Blood of My Blood
by Elsa007
Summary: Jack's parents visit unexpectedly and he wonders how to explain the unparalleled force in his life that is Phryne. Of course nothing goes as planned and before he gets the chance a certain Lady Detective goes missing! Phrack, Jane and Jack bonding and more! Rated T for now...it maybe should be different given some of the more intense scenes...
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: With all the amazing feedback I got on my last MFMM fic I was so inspired with fic ideas! This is based on a loose idea I had of how Jack's family would react to the change in him since he's become part of Phryne's family (with strong mentions of how he and Jane relate to one another as well.) I'm not exactly where this fits in just yet...post the Season 3 cliffhanger? Maybe...pre end of Season 3 but not by much? Also very likely. I guess, just take this as separate from that particular track and go with it! (You're all very smart-you'll figure it out!) Again...please please please review! I am trying to improve myself as a writer so if you see mistakes or want to give advice or just comment on how you liked (or hated) it please please do! I am also very open to direction on where this story may lead...not quite sure exactly where we are going yet! I can't wait to find out! Thank you all for reading this! I hope you enjoy! XOXO ~ E**

"Mother!" Jack practically leapt to his feet, his eyes wide with surprise as a middle aged woman with a kind smile and the crinkle lines of someone who has been very happy very often around her eyes stepped through the door and into Jack's office. When he had heard the clacking of heels through the foyer he had instantly thought a certain lady detective was paying him a visit. She hadn't been by in a few days and Jack would be lying if he said he hadn't been anxiously awaiting the scent of French perfume.

"John." She returned, her smile growing substantially as she opened the door widely, revealing Jack's father and older brother behind her. Jack stepped around his desk and sweat the woman into a hug. No matter how old he got, he would never stop being his mother's little boy and he only had to step into her embrace to feel at home and at peace.

"What on earth are you doing in Melbourne?" Jack addressed his entire family.

"You've been working so hard and we all wanted to see you." His father answered.

"Besides, Sarah and the kids wouldn't stop whining to come along as soon as they heard mum and pop were going to see the incomparable Uncle Jack." His brother grinned, stepping forward to clap his younger brother in a tight hug. "They're waiting at the Windsor. Didn't want to overcrowd you at work." Jack smiled appreciatively and glanced at his watch.

"Your timing is perfect. I have an hour for lunch. Let me take you out." After a few minutes of 'oh we couldn't possibly' and the like Jack had loaded his family in the car and was off to his favorite French bistro. He would, of course, deny any reason at all for his current craving for French food other than its deliciousness.  
As they stepped through the door the familiar scent of his last few dinner outings with her rushed through him and Jack hoped fervently that it didn't show on his face. If anyone were to notice how just the memory of her made him happy it would be his mother.

"Monsieur Jack!" The host greeted him like an old friend, shaking his hand happily. "How wonderful to see you my friend!" His accent aside, Enjolras spoke near perfect English and had a flair for making the language work to his own advantage, his foreign tendencies only adding to his obvious charm with the ladies. "And of course, zis must be your sister, I think, yes." He winked obviously at his mother, making her blush and smile almost shyly. "No? Your lady friend then! Shall Miss Fisher be jealous, sir policeman?" Now it was Jack's turn to blush. He could feel his entire family's eyes turned to him but he avoided any eye contact.

"My family and I require a table for 4 Enjolras." The man winked at Jack as though he knew precisely the hot water he had put his customer in and led them graciously to their table.

"Our best table, of course. The family of the Detective Inspector's deserves nothing less than our finest. Your server will be with you shortly." As they settled into the table Jack busied himself with his menu but his mother's fake cough finally forced him to look up.

"Been taking some special lady friend out to French Bistros have you?" Well she had never been one to beat around the bush. Jack hesitated. He didn't want to lie to his mother, of course, but then again, by 'special lady friend' his mother meant a girl he was courting. And that wasn't exactly what was happening. In fact, she would probably be very offended by such an accusation. Jack half smiled at this, deciding on his answer. "A work college mother. A consulting detective."

"A _female_ consulting detective?" His mother asked incredulously.

"It isn't like that." He assured them. He glanced at his father and brother for help to no avail. They too stared at him expectantly, his brother going so far as to smirk mischievously at him. What he wouldn't give for someone to change the subject! Where was that waiter anyway? "She's a colleague and a friend." He said quickly. "Let that be the end to that. Are Elle and Beth here too?" Jack's asking about his sisters effectively drew the attention away from himself. "Beth planned on driving out with her family tomorrow but your youngest sister is still in America." His father answered tensely. Elle was a thoroughly modern woman and while it had, at one time, simply amused his father and made his mother something Jack would have sworn was proud but when she decided to up and leave for a tour of America with a rich friend from school they hadn't exactly been thrilled. Jack had the distinct feeling that his father was more offended by the fact that her rich friend had been male where as his mother had simply preferred her daughter stay closer to home.

The meal proceeded much in this vein but even though she had left the conversation, she hadn't left Jack's mind. Why hadn't she shown up at any if his cases? Why hadn't she invited him over for a drink? Was she finally getting bored of her policeman? Was his heart about to break? A million times for her, of course, but also for the rest of his new family. Especially Jane. The pair had grown quite close recently and helping her with her homework, chatting with her easily over Mr. Butler's delicious concoctions, playing her requests on the piano, over and over and over again, so she could practice dancing just one more time, those had been some of the best moments in his life. He had felt like a father. And what was more? She seemed to think of him as father as well. Jack wasn't ready to give any of them up.

As the group returned to the station, ready to say goodbye having made plans to meet back at the Windsor after his shift ended, Jack shared a significant glance with Constable Collins. The young Senior Constable shook his head slowly, hearing Jack's unspoken question about possible visitors clear as day. Jack had to remind himself not to look disappointed as his father stepped forward to shake his hand. Before a single word could leave the man's mouth however, the door to the precinct swung open and a whirlwind of energy poured through the room as a small body rushed forward, colliding with Jack forcefully.

"Jack! Jack please!" The brunette begged pulling at his arm. "You have to help us! Come quick!"

"Jane?" His heart quickened nervously as he noted her tears. "Slow down Jane. I can't understand you." Still the girl blubbered on incoherently as she shook, wide eyed and hyperventilating. "Sweetheart, what is it?" Jack had knelt down to be at her level, pulling her into his arms as comfortingly as he knew how, wiping her tears away and motioning for Collins to ready himself for whatever the girl said.

"It's Phryne, Jack! She's missing!"

 **I know I'm evil with that cliffhanger. Sorry. I promise I DO love you all! Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello my lovely readers! I hope to update again soon so stay tuned! Please, please, please review! Tell me what you love, what you hate, your ideas for the path the story will go…please, please pretty please review! XOXO ~ E**

"It's Phryne, Jack, she's missing!"

My blood ran cold through my veins. It was a phrase favored by popular dramatists and novelists but for once I finally understood the words. The blood that gave me life was suddenly icy hot inside me. My heart beat slower, as though Jane's voice was magic, her words slowly killing me. The girl in question burst into uncontrollable sobs and fell into my arms. I glanced around the room. There were an uncommon number of constables in City South Police Station today. In fact about half of them were off duty today but were here anyway. What was that about? I would have to ask Collins about this later. The one thing I noticed about every man in that precinct? They were all staring at the little girl in my arms with a great amount of concern. My Jane. She had lost so much in her life, the people she loved were never a constant. In her experience, people left her, whether they wanted to or not. Until Phryne. Phryne always loved her. Phryne never left her. Until now. The girl was frantic and I clutched her close to my chest whispering platitudes that I desperately hoped I could deliver on. 'We would find her. She'll be fine. This is Phryne Fisher we're talking about.' And the like. I stood to address the men around the station but Jane wouldn't let go. I half smiled at the girl and simply pulled the growing child up with me, holding her in my arms as one would a small toddler. (Of course she was not a small toddler and was, in fact, quite heavy for me to be carrying around everywhere I went but for now she needed this, needed me, and I wasn't about to let her down, literally or figuratively.) The girl wrapped her legs around my waist and tucked her head into the crook made by my neck and my shoulder, clinging tightly. I glanced at Collins, silently asking him to take my place and address the others. The young man's face was steel. Angry and almost vengeful. Of course, I had to remind myself, he loved Miss Fisher too, in a different way, but she was family.

"You heard the girl!" He barked at his peers, his demanding, forceful tone making me proud. "Miss Fisher is responsible for as many arrests as any man here. This is one of our own. Do the city south policemen just let someone kidnap one of their own?!" A resounding no was the immediate reply but evidently Constable Collins wasn't quite finished. "Miss Fisher would put herself in the cross hairs for any one of us, are we going to let her down?" Again, the men at the station responded with vim and vigor but it was more than that. Most of them had stood, ready for action, and a few had gone so far as to begin strapping on their guns or reaching for the phones.

"Gentlemen," Constable Johnson added with a cheeky smile, "them he most beautiful woman in Australia is in trouble. Who will be the man to come to her rescue?" A hollering hoot went up at this and the tips of Collins' ears flushed scarlet as the men sprang to action, messy, unorganized action, but action none the less. Jack whistled to bring their attention back.

"Collins and I will go to Miss Fisher's residence and interview the staff. Constable Johnson I take it you can hunt down those rabble rousers she's always gallivanting about with and see if they know anything. They'll also likely want to help. Let them. They can get men to talk who won't have a thing to do with coppers like us. Constable Elroy, find Dr. MacMillan if you would, it is her day off down at the morgue so my first guess would be volunteering at either the school or the women's hospital." I peered at the other police officers, eagerly awaiting their assignments. I shouldn't have been surprised that Phryne Fisher had had such an effect on them, after all I was no poster child for the unmoved as was my initial plan upon meeting the hurricane like woman. But I never noticed the near devotion to her. I would have to ask Collins about that as soon as I got the chance. "Who would like to speak to her Aunt Prudence?" As if water had been thrown on a fire the mood in the room changed. Where enthusiasm and assuredness had existed before now hung nervous avoidance. "Prudence Stanley? Old woman. Lives alone. Maybe four feet tall." I outlined her for them and stared them down but not one man would meet my gaze. "Are you all afraid of Prudence Stanley?" I realized with a start. The men shifted where they stood and I sighed. "Morgens. Take Peaks with you if the tiny old woman scared you so badly but don't come back until you have her full statement." I gave them the most commanding look I could and the two shuffled away. "Edwards man the phone, the rest of you, be prepared to canvas and search the moment any of us calls back with new information." A spattering of 'Yes, Sir's' filled the air and instantly I turned to make my way to the car, shifting Jane in my arms just slightly.  
Oh. Yes. My family was here.  
"I'm sorry, you'll have to excuse me. I have work to do that is rather pressing."  
"Yes, John, of course." My mother nodded, keeping her eyes trained on Jane the whole time. I didn't have time to analyze that. Phryne was missing. Phryne could be-no. No. It's Phryne Fisher you're talking about. She isn't dead. She can't be dead. Someone with that much life in them doesn't just die?

 _Do they?_


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Firstly I need to apologize – it has been forever since I updated! I will do better at updating more frequently! I am so sorry to all my lovely readers! I hope this chappie (and the one I have already begun writing for my next update!) Will make up for my horribleness (and for how short these chappies have been! I usually write longer chapters…hmmm. I'll work on that too.) So this chapter got away from me just a bit. I had a plan for it but then things started happening and it got slightly out of hand. This chapter has brought my story up to a definite rate of T and I know that future chapters will likely get us into the 'M' range-but I'll warn you before that happens so you can all be sure of changing your settings before we get there! This chapter describes someone masturbating and describing a fantasy of his, so if you don't want to read that-stop at the disclaimer later on in the chapter. (I promise I'll warn you!) I hope you enjoy and as always-I am trying to improve my writing so reviews are very much appreciated!**

 **-Phryne-**

God, but everything hurt. My skin was so dry I could feel where it cracked and crusted, failing to keep everything that was supposed to stay outside out and inside in. Blood dripped from the torn edges of broken skin on my wrists and ankles while dust settled painfully into the crevices my now papyrus thin skin had opened up from a lack of moisture. The muscles in my shoulders felt as though a low burning fire had spread through them. My arms were tied back, supporting most of my weight. Had been for what felt like a week but was likely only a day or two if my sleeping habits were anything to judge by. They'd been tied in front of my when I'd first arrived here, but of course I had never been one to simply sit around, a damsel in distress, while I waited for a prince to come and save me. (Not that I didn't _have_ a prince, in fact there was one particular gentleman who was rather good at saving the day and rescuing the damsel's of Victoria, or at the very least bringing their transgressors to justice, but in any event, I rather enjoyed playing my own hero.) I had made my run towards my escape but there were more men then I'd assumed and I had been outnumbered and outgunned. (Quite literally, the bastards had taken my gun.) Now they had tied me up in a way that even my proclivities for escape tricks couldn't surpass. A number of my possessions had been stolen, some I was far more upset over than others. My pistol and dagger for one. My lack of defensive weaponry made me feel vulnerable and dampened my hopefulness. My shoes they had taken but for that I could only rejoice. Any weight not held upright by my aching shoulders and arms rested upon my feet, and even I wouldn't like to be standing about in heels for days on end. I had been relieved of my jewelry, most of which I couldn't be bothered to miss. However there was a certain swallow shaped pin that my heart ached over when I could spare the energy.

"Look at that beaut'." His rough and tumble voice was surprisingly high. When I'd first laid eyes on the overweight, sweaty man, (whom I had nicknamed Pots due to his stacked countenance and rusty resemblance to the cooking device and as I found myself needing something to refer to him as, I hadn't caught his name) I had imagined his voice to be much lower, filled with gravel and gruff scorn. But despite its tenor lightness, Pots' voice was still cold and dark enough to give me the kind of chills that didn't go away with a change in the breeze. "Lil' Miss Honorable, trussed up like a stuffed goose, ready for a man to take a taste." I shivered, my jaw clenching, biting back a retort. I'd learned early on that talking back to this one was not only exactly what he wanted from me, but would also earn me a slap across the cheek and a leering grin that set me on edge. "And who knows, I just might, take a taste that is. Word around town is that I wouldn't be the first, no, no. Not by a long shot, from what I hear."

 **(A/N: If you don't want to read about some masturbation rape-description stuff, stop here.)**

He was touching himself through his grungy clothing and I could feel bile rising in my throat at the thought of this ignoramus cretin getting anywhere near me in that manner. "Lucky for you little lady, the boss says I'm not to take so much as a peek under those skirts of yours let alone get to sample the goods." My hands were shaking now, making the rope that tied them together rub across my wrists, now screaming in pain.

"What else does your boss say?" I asked, needing to learn everything I could about this person who had me taken prisoner.

"Says he's got plans for you. Say's He knows just what he'll do to you from now 'til the moment your neck gets slit open." This seemed to excite Pots even more than the thought of raping me had and his hand against his trousers sped up along with his breathing. He was panting now and I bit my tongue to keep from screaming in disgust and hopeless fury. "Maybe before we spill your blood he'll let me at you. Pull up those skirts of yours and make you scream and cry as I pound you harder than you've ever been had. I will stretch out that little cunt of yours. Tear you up. Make you bleed. And after I've had my way I will reach down, pull your head back by that pretty black hair of yours, and slit your throat, spilling you clean, watching the light drain from your eyes." That put him over the edge, and Pots came hard in his trousers. He leaned back against the walls and waited out whatever high that disgusting act had given him.

Then, as quickly as he'd arrived in my torture chambers, he left, without a word, leaving me to cry myself back into a blissful sleep. A sleep where I imagined myself away from this horrid place. A sleep where I watched as my darling best friend helped my daughter with her homework one lazy afternoon. A sleep where after they were finished he would walk to me and wrap me in his arms and make me feel safe in a way that I hadn't since before a war ripped the world apart. A sleep where his eyes would look at me and make me feel like I was the only girl in the entire world. A sleep where my best friend loved me like I loved him.

 **A/N: Thank you all so much for reading! I will get you an update soon and I wanted to thank everyone for the amazing reviews! You all brought up some great points that I will be working with when I write Jack's next scene!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: So I've only just realized that I completely changed tenses after the first chapter…oops. I usually write in the first person but I had planned on using this as practice writing in second. Except I seemed to have forgotten that as I wrote chapter two. Again…oops… Well, I hope it didn't bother any of you too much! (No one mentioned it so I guess not!) Thank you all again so much for the reviews! I really appreciate them and I hope that my writing will continue to improve for all of you lovely readers! This chapter is safely back in the 'K' rated zone so no worries for anyone! Hope you all enjoy it and I plan on updating again soon!**

 **XOXO - E**

 **ALSO...VERY IMPORTANT! It has been brought to my attention that there was some issues with notifications being sent out by fanfiction net about updates so be sure you've read chapter 3! (Phryne's point of view!)**

"Go home, Jack." Officer Johnson held my gaze, even as I turned to him with fire and anger in my eyes.

"What?!" I spat the words out, the blank scrap of paper in my hand crumbling as my fingers curled themselves into a fist. "She's out there, missing, in danger. For all we know she could be-" my voice cracked, as if it refused to admit that possibility aloud.

"I know. And right now there is nothing you can do."

"Nothing I can do?" I laughed without a hint of humor. "So because all our leads have gone cold I should just shrug my shoulders, trudge home and give up? I'm not going home until I find her and bring her safe and sound back to her family, Officer."

"I didn't mean to give up, sir. I only meant that your family planned on seeing you this evening. You should at the very least go and explain to them why you won't be perfectly lovely company during their stay here." Officer Johnson fiddled absentmindedly with the buttons on his coat. "Be with them while the lot of us do our jobs, sir. Or if you refuse to do that, take this poor girl home so she can sleep in her own bed." I glanced at Jane, fitfully sleeping in my desk chair. She had refused to leave my side the entire day and when Collins had gone to stay with Miss Williams as he left work for the evening, planning on watching over the house to protect its current inhabitants, he had attempted to bring her along. She had screamed and clung to me, giving my constable a rather remarkable scratch down his cheek as he got closer to the girl. I had looked into her eyes and seen it. The very thing that haunted me. As much as I knew she should have gone back under the watchful eye of Dorothy Williams or at the very least Mrs. Stanley, I had wanted her close to me as well. I had wanted her in my view at all times, the forlorn hope that perhaps I could at least protect her from the thing that went bump in the night if she stayed with me. In the same way that I needed my family nearby when part of it was in danger, she had wanted to be near me. Her family. It was selfish, but I had given in instantly and sent Collins off, keeping my little girl at my side. I should return her now. It was almost midnight. I weighed my options and sighed. None of them were good. How could they be? She was gone. Someone had taken her. She was in danger-maybe worse.

"Give me the copies Miss Williams made of everyone's notes." I gestured to the file to my Officer's right. "I'll take them with me. It isn't as though I'll get any sleep tonight, anyhow." Pleased at this compromise, Johnson nodded and handed me the notes. The moment Miss Williams had heard what was being done to recover her friend, she had insisted on helping. Hugh, however, hadn't wanted his girl anywhere near anyone who could be considered remotely suspicious. They too had come up with a compromise and Dorothy had taken on the job of typing up all of my constables' notes in duplicate so that we could have every bit of information we currently possessed all together. I walked over to Jane and gently shook her shoulder. "Wake up, Janie, it's time to go home." Even stumbling out of sleep she was adamantly against this.

"No, Jack, please. Don't make me go back."

"Hugh is there and I've got two other constables who will be driving by now and then to check on the place."

"It's not that." She whispered softly.

"Then what is it?" I asked, kneeling down beside her and holding her hand in mine.

"Dot is trying so hard to make me feel safe and I understand why and I appreciate it," She assured me adamantly. "But she treats me like a child and refuses to talk to me about what may be going on. And Mr. Butler just keeps cooking so much food because he doesn't know what else to do and keeps saying that we need to keep our strength up but they're both acting as thought she's dead and I don't want to think that way. I know she isn't dead. I know she's fighting and trying to get back to us. It's Miss Phryne!" She was reflecting my thoughts exactly. When we'd gone over to interview the family earlier today after Jane had burst into the station I had noticed the exact same thing and had hurried to get out of there myself. "And I don't want to be too far away from you." She added softly. "I know I'm just some kid off the street and that you don't have to care about me at all, but you're like a papa to me and I love you and I am so afraid that I will lose my family and with Miss Phryne missing…" She trailed off. My heart swelled and broke all at once. I knew precisely how she was feeling, I was feeling the same way. But her papa? I couldn't be more proud.

"Janie. Don't ever think that you are just some kid off the street to me. I love you so much and I would be prouder than anything to be your papa." She smiled shyly and threw her arms around my neck.

"Can I come home with you tonight?" She begged desperately. "Please? I can't bear anything else." Melodramatic or not, how could I refuse?

"I was planning on staying with my parents at their suite Windsor tonight. I had promised to stop by and my father had said he wouldn't turn in for the night until he saw me and knew I was fine. Would you mind horribly staying with me there?"

 **A/N: Yay potential Jane/Jack/Jack's family Bonding time! I hope you all enjoy this fic and please, please, pretty please with cherries on top review! Do you love it? Hate it? What do you like, what needs improvement, and where do you want this story to go? I love you all! Hope you are managing this seemingly endless MFMM Hiatus as well as possible! XOXO E**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: So I'm not sure if this update is any good. I had a lot of thoughts on what I wanted to happen but the number of characters in this scene really ate it up and made it a bit clunky. I hope it's okay! (It's just a filler for you all until I can get the next chapter up!) Please let me know what you think! Is it great? Is it horrendous? Is it the most confusing thing you've ever read? Please let me know! I am trying to improve my writing so reviews always help! XOXO - E**

I knocked on the wooden door. Room 317. Jane once again resided in my arms, clinging to my neck, half asleep but desperately clinging to the world of the conscious, determined to stay awake for some unknown reason.

"Jack?" She mumbled to me.

"What is it?"

"Thank you." I grinned. My parents would be thoroughly confused by my bringing a girl home with me at the end of the day and I still had to find some way to explain my involvement and friendships with those in the Fisher residence – certainly this would only complicate things. But it was worth it. My father opened the door and stopped, staring at the young girl in my arms with as much confusion as I had expected before stepping aside and letting me in.

"It's Jack." He called out to the room behind him. "And another guest." My family descended upon us like vultures to a carcass but stopped short as they saw just who the guest is. I set Jane down and she rubbed her eyes, trying to wake herself up to great these new faces. She had grown quiet, and not just because she was tired. Jane was shy in front of new people. Her past had taught her that strangers had to earn her trust tenfold before she could relax around them and I didn't blame her for a minute.

"Jane this is my mother," I began the introductions, giving my family a significant look and begging them in my head to just follow along and not ask too many questions in front of this child. My mother at least got the hint and crouched down to be at eye level with Jane.

"Hello Jane. I'm Martha." Jane reached out her hand and shook my mother's proffered one.

"And my father, Henry." I continued. Another handshake proceeded and my family seemed to line up to meet the child.

"My sister in law, Sarah."

"Hello, Jane. I would introduce my children but they're all in bed. My oldest is about your age." Jane nodded and acknowledged Sarah's words kindly but said nothing, shyness still overtaking her. Sarah, being a mother with at least two painfully shy children wasn't phased in the least. "Jane, this is my husband, John's brother, Luke." Luke winked at the girl as he bent to shake her hand.

"I have a sister, too. But like your mother she likes to traipse off and explore the world so she is not present at the moment." I murmured to her with a wink. She returned a half-hearted smile and wrapped her fingers back around my arm.

"Perhaps we can find a place for Jane to sleep?" I asked quietly.

"We were going to have you sleep on a bed in our suite." My mother returned, gesturing to a closed door behind me. Jane was about to protest but I raised my brow at her.

"You said if you could come back with me you'd go to sleep." I reminded her. "It's late. Let's get you to bed."

"Jack-" She began, her voice almost begging.

"I'll wake you up before I head back to the station tomorrow morning." I assured her. She smiled and nodded, allowing Sarah to take her hand and lead her away. Halfway to the door she stopped short and turned around.

"Phryne always-"

"I'll be in to tuck you in as soon as you've gotten in bed." She nodded and continued her migration. There was silence in the room and I found my entire family staring at me.

"Her foster mother was kidnapped today."

"And the police couldn't find any family to place her with so they sent her home with you?" Luke asked with his signature head tilt.

"No she has staff at home who would have certainly cared for her, it's just…" I trailed off, unable to explain just what had happened.

"Johnny, is she your daughter?" my mother asked quietly. Luke and father began to sputter and protest but I couldn't help a small smile from appearing. "I only ask because you seem to care for her a great deal. Not to mention how you seem to know what she's thinking before she says it nor how she clings to you. Twice today I've seen that child in your arms, John."

"I didn't father a child, if that is what you're asking."

"But," my mother prodded me to continue, but I ignored her request for information.

"Her foster mother is a close friend of mine. As you may have surmised from the conversation at the station earlier she is very important to all of us at City South."

"How so?"

"Phryne Fisher is a lady detective."

"A _what?"_

"She consults on a lot of my cases."

" _Your_ cases?" Luke couldn't seem to stop interjecting but I continued to ignore him.

"Her companion is engaged to Senior Constable Collins." Mother had a soft smile on her face that worried me somewhat but I pressed on.

"Her disappearance is of utmost importance to the Commissioner and so I will be working through the night on this. The longer we wait the less likely our recovery becomes and so I am afraid I will not be highly entertaining for you all."

"Of course. Do what you must!" My mother assured me. "And if you need anything from us be sure to tell us at once."

"John?" Sarah called out. "I've dressed Jane in one of Maggie's nightgowns. She's in bed." I nodded.

"Excuse me. I have to tuck someone in."

 **A/N: Don't forget to review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: here we go again! I hope you all enjoy this installment! Please, please pretty please review! Do you love it? Hate it? Have advice? Tell me! I want to know!**

 **Thanks to everyone who reviewed my last chapter! I really appreciate it! Special Shout Out to Ariadne04 for all the encouragement and your lovely review! Love and Karma headed your way!**

"You've got to eat, Fisher." He snarled, shoving the disgusting days old, close to rotten, piece of fruit in my face.

"I told you, Henry. She don't eat nothin'." Pots called out to the man named Henry. No. Of course I wouldn't eat. I wasn't hungry. Why would I be? This disgusting ignoramus of a man came down here every day and told me all about how much he'd like to kill me or rape me all while getting himself off and not in the slightest giving me any clues as to why I was here, who his boss was, or what any actual plans for me were. In other words, in addition to being one of the most disgusting men I had ever had the misfortune to meet, he was also utterly useless.

"Shut up, Gates." Huh. So Pots' name was Gates. I liked Pots better. It suited the idiot. "Look, Miss, I don't know what this bloke has been telling you," He motioned to Pots with his elbow but looked straight into my eyes. "But we don't want to harm you. You're part of something bigger than any of us and it's a real shame you got yourself mixed up in this but if all goes well we'll all get out 'a here just fine. In order for you to do that, you've got to keep your strength up. So Miss Fisher, please. Eat something." I surveyed the man warily. Could I trust him? He seemed honest enough and I couldn't think of any reason for him to lie to me, what was I going to do to him all tied up like this? Either way, it didn't matter I suppose. I wasn't hungry. I told him as much in as few words as I could manage and Henry sighed. "As you say Miss. I'll be back down later to see if you change your mind." He started to leave but he suddenly stopped and turned back towards me. "You need to drink water, miss." I thought about that for a moment and my mind couldn't help but remind me about the scratchy dryness plaguing the back of my throat. I nodded half-heartedly and allowed Henry to tip a glass of fresh, cold water against my chapped lips, stinging me in the most pleasant way I could imagine pain to present itself. Yes it hurt, but I had begun to crave water and that pain was something I was more than content to bear for the sweet joy of drinking water. When I had taken my fill he gave me a sad smile and walked away, pulling Pots along with him.

 _Come on, Phryne._ I thought to myself. _Don't fall for this. He's acting nice, playing the good cop so that you will trust him. Don't trust him Phryne. Don't fall for this._ Of course one thing led to another and the thought of 'good cop' turned into thoughts of my friends at City South, one friend in particular. Had anyone told him I was gone? Was he looking for me? Had he passed the case off, too busy solving a murder without me to bother? Or maybe he missed me. Maybe he was trying to find me. Maybe my darling inspector was beating himself up that he hadn't found me yet. That was more likely. And absolute shite. He was surely doing his best and for him to blame himself for any delays in my rescue was perfectly ludicrous. Dot and Mr. Butler were certainly caring for Jane, I had no fear on that count. Perhaps my Aunt Prudence had taken them in, away from my lovely house for fear of my captors returning for them.

I thought back to the last think I remembered before all of this. The others had all gone to bed, Dot had suggested that I too retire. The men at City South will be busy tonight, paperwork from the last murder we'd solved, she'd said. Hugh hadn't thought the Inspector would have time to come over, she'd said. But I'd stayed up. Just in case. It wouldn't do for him to come knocking and not be there to answer. I'd had whiskey set out, the fire burning low, and I'd been wearing something he could certainly find a reason to admire. Still was wearing that. But now it hung awkwardly, torn, dirty, and limp around me in the most unflattering manner. I'd been waiting and waiting. Surely he'd come to me. He always had. We'd enjoy each other's company over perfectly aged brown liquor and we'd talk about any and every matter under the sun, things I couldn't discuss with anyone else, and then when there was nothing to say, we were perfectly content to look into one another's eyes and imagine everything that could have been were we any other people in this world. Who we were drew us together in a way more powerful than anything else on earth, and yet who we were kept us from being together. I couldn't bear to ask him to change, because it was the very essence of who he was that made me love him. Yes. I loved him. More than life itself. And I was certain he wasn't neutral towards me. There were feelings I had never felt before, a relationship that I had never dreamed possible between us. And I loved him, my silly, perfect detective. A man like no other. Certainly if there was a God in heaven, he had broken the mold on Jack Robinson for how could there be another, how could there be anyone as perfect in the world?

"Daydreaming away, Your Honorableness?" Oh dear lord what had I done to deserve this worldly joy? Pots was back. "Don't worry me like that, m'lady. It looked for a moment as thought you might be happy. Can't have that, can we?" a hard slap came from nowhere, breaking my already too dry lips in three places and scratching a gash over my cheekbone. Then his face was inches from mine, his rancid breath filling my nose. I vomited in my mouth, not enough to spit on the fool but enough to disgust me even further.

"What were ya' dreamin' about, then?" he asked with a snarl. "That pretty little girl of yours? The one with the pretty blonde braids." A low snarl escaped my lips at the thought of him being anywhere near Jane. "Or maybe that friend of yours, the one who don't know nothing 'bout what's between a man's legs? I could teach her, o'course." Anger turned to fury in an instant and I nearly forgot I was tied up and helpless. "Nah, I suspect your dreamin' bout that pretty beau of yours. Him rescuing you, and you thanking him the only way a slut like you knows how." Jack. Did this have something to do with Jack? His words about "my beau" seemed to hold more weight than the others. He seemed almost bitter about Jack. He seemed like he really knew something about Jack. Intuition alone it may be, no evidence to back me up, but a handful of words, and I was certain my capture had something to do with Jack Robinson.

 _Oh God in Heaven, I know I don't deserve my prayers to be heard but please let nothing bad befall him. Divorced he may be, but he is truly the best of men and the exact sort of person who deserves all that is good. Don't let these cretins harm him. Please God. Protect him. Protect Jack Robinson._

 **Hope you enjoyed! Stay tuned-More coming soon! Also please review! – XOXO - E**


	7. Chapter 7

I awoke with a sharp pain in my neck and as I rubbed it out, I took in my surroundings, wondering where on earth I was. A hotel? I was fully dressed in my suit from the day before and I had been laying on pages upon pages of notes written up in Miss William's neat hand. Suddenly the events of the past few days came rushing back and my blood ran cold. I had fallen asleep. What time was it? How much of the night and morning had I wasted away, sleeping calmly while she was God knew where having God knew what happening to her? She'd been gone for 4 days now. And I didn't have the slightest idea where or why. The days had been tortuous. My sister Beth had heard from my mother that I wasn't in the best place and she and her husband had delayed their trip here until this coming weekend, I suspected in the hope that all of this would be behind us by then and that they could enjoy a lovely vacation in Victoria. But it was Thursday. They would arrive tomorrow. And we had no idea where she was. One of the officers from a different station had suggested that maybe she had met a man and run off with him, she was after all, he said with a smirk, flighty like that. Before I had the time to put him in his place Collins and a Junior Constable for whom she had always had a smile and an encouraging word for had thrown punches, knocking the man back. No one had dared to say another word against her since. The men of City South protected their own, and she was certainly that.

Here's what I knew: Her entire household had gone to bed at a normal hour but she had insisted on staying up. No one said why but I knew she had been waiting to see if I would stop by for a nightcap. I remembered thinking to myself that I should go over, but we had had a moment that day. Not a flirtatious moment. A romantic moment. And I had gone running scared back to my own, quiet, lonely bungalow instead of face the fact that she would brush such a moment off and return to flirting meaninglessly. Did that make this my fault? If she had been taken the night before and not early that morning as we currently suspected (due to a series of odd sounds that had woken Mr. Butler around 4 AM) then I could have prevented this. I prayed to God that I was wrong and I prayed again, that she be found safe and sound.

"Look who has finally joined the land of the living!" My brother teased me, poking me in the shoulder and handing me a cup of fresh tea.

"You should have woken me." I glanced at the clock on the mantle. Hell it was almost 11. Daylight was burning and I had slept for nearly 7 hours. "Why the hell did you let me sleep so long?"

"Come now, Johnny. Don't snap at your brother. You need your rest." My mother's voice chimed in softly behind me yet I could only feel the anger boiling up in me.

"She could be dead or dying and I'm just lying about sleeping." I grumbled, swallowing the tea in one great gulp. "I need to go into work."

"John Edward Robinson that is enough." Shit. The last time my mother had been that angry had been when she discovered that Luke had burned down the outhouse at our cabin in the north. "We have been perfectly understanding about you not being able to 'divulge police business' with us but to be perfectly frank I think we all know damn well that this is a lot more personal than business. You have barely had time to be with us and when you are you spend every second pouring over those notes for what must be the hundredth time hoping to find the good lord only knows what. You won't tell us why Miss Jane stayed with us for two whole days before her aunt came to fetch her. She wouldn't say a word about how the two of you were so close and yet she barely let go of your arm and clung to you at every turn. I happen to know for a fact that you go see her every lunch time instead of us and I wouldn't mind so much if you would just tell us what on earth is going on and why it is affecting you so. I have never seen you this utterly miserable and that includes both the day you came and told your father and me that your wife had asked you for a divorce and the day you came home from the war, broken, crying and utterly miserable. So don't you dare snap at us, young man. We are doing our best to keep you nourished and sleeping well, something you don't seem to think very important." I paused. She was right. They had a right to know what was going on. I would have to tell them. I would have to tell them everything. I nodded curtly and sipped again at the cup of tea.

"Phryne Fisher is a lady detective who consults on my cases."

"Your cases." My mother commented as though it was a question.

"She works her own cases and often times her cases cross over with many of the high profile murders that wind up on my desk as opposed to one of the lower constables." Her nod told me that I had explained enough for now and was allowed to proceed. "Her companion is engaged to Senior Constable Collins and that connection makes our paths cross as well."

"You had said she was a friend." My mother prompted me. When had I said…oh yes. Luncheon the other day. That seemed a lifetime ago. Slowly I nodded.

"Yes. We've grown quite close over the years."

"And this is the first we've heard of her, because?" I bit back a smile.

"Because she is impossible to describe or explain. It was simply easier not to mention it."

"And, I suppose, because when you first met her you were married and worried about how that would look." My brother and I both looked up immediately at my mother's words, shocked for different reasons.

"How did you…"

"I'm not a fool John Robinson. I know you better than you know yourself. All of a sudden you weren't that sullen, sad, broken shell of a boy who returned from Europe. You were you again. I had hopped it was Rosie, but it was soon after I learned she had moved in with her sister. I cleared my throat, awkwardly.

"I suppose that may have had something to do with her." My mother smiled, looking very much like the cat who ate the cannery. "She reminded me why I do what I do, that's all."

"And those few weeks about a year ago? When you were more angry and broken down than I've ever seen you. I grimaced. The accident. Our separation. No. I couldn't talk about that now.

"She adopted Jane shortly after we first met. Jane's mother had a mental illness and wasn't able to care for Jane. She lived on the streets. She was involved in one of our cases and Miss Fisher felt for her. They've been nearly inseparable ever since. Jane is feeling this moment particularly harshly because she is so used to people leaving her. Her father, her mother – countless times – each of her friends from the days before she lived with Miss Fisher. She has always been afraid that Miss Fisher would see her as just another girl off the street and leave her. She's terrified and Mrs. Stanley – Miss Fisher's Aunt – isn't very adept to calming the girl."

"Not to mention she seems particularly connected to you, personally." I couldn't hold back a smile then.

"Yes. Jane and I have grown quite close. I help her with her Shakespeare classes and we quite enjoy each other's company."

"And that smile? What is that about John?" I shook my head but I couldn't stop it.

"The other day. She said she sees me as her father."

"This is a dangerous game you're playing at John." My father's response was immediate but it was not the one I expected. My brow furrowed as I questioned his meaning. "You are playing family with a woman who is far above your station. Her daughter is now involved. What happens when this Miss Fisher finds a man to marry? Then Jane will have to reconcile her world view of you with this new father." My stomach clenched angrily at the words. As ridiculous as the idea of Miss Fisher marrying anyone was, it still made me jealous in a way I had no right to be. Throw in the idea of Jane calling someone else father and my fist was clenching involuntarily.

"That isn't going to happen."

"Do you and Miss Fisher have some sort of understanding? Are you, involved?" I didn't miss the hopefulness in my mother's voice.

"No. No of course not. But she has no plans to marry."

"Well not now,"

"No father. She has no plans to marry, ever. She is independent and wishes to remain so. She enjoys her freedom far too much to give it up for any man. And she is in a place financially where that would never be a problem." A clock began to chime and I checked my watch. "You will all have to excuse me. I truly have to leave now." I stood and hastened towards the door. I didn't say goodbye, and I knew it was rude to practically run out of the hotel suite they were paying for, but I couldn't bear for them to see the tear that was making its way down my face. Phryne was missing. But even when we found her, I had no claim to her. There was no reason she couldn't find herself not terribly far down the road fancying a change of scenery and pack up, taking away the closest thing I had to a family of my own. I couldn't truly imagine her dying now. She was far too spiteful for that. (Not to mention resourceful.) She was full of life. Whatever had happened to her, she was alive, and she would stay that way until we found her (or until she escaped on her own accord and flounced her way triumphantly back into town). But I could see her leaving me. I could see losing her again. And that, was unbearable.

 **A/N: Let me know what you thought! Please review!**


	8. Chapter 8

A knock on my parent's suite door startled me out of my fog. It had been two weeks. The other men had lost hope and slowly returned to their normal duties. Myself Constable Collins, Constable Johnson and Phryne's staff were the only ones still frantically searching for her. Were this any other case we would have abandoned ship ages ago. The trail ran so cold it was ice. There were no clues. Literally – no clues. Whoever had done this was a mastermind. A criminal genius. And as much as Elroy kept hinting that perhaps kidnapping was an excessive charge and that maybe she had wandered away, I held on to the fact that I _knew_ in my soul she would never leave Dot and Jane like that. So on we pushed. Chasing down leads that didn't exist, making up stories that may have fit the bill and hoping that my imagination was somehow right. (It hadn't been thus far.) I was exhausted and miserable and I thanked God my family was here to get me through this. I couldn't bear to have to go back to my bungalow alone at night. Sure I'd been doing that since Rosie moved out but somehow, after a nightcap and pleasant company it wasn't so lonely being alone, knowing someone was out there. Without her, the thought of returning to my cold, tiny rooms was unbearable.

"Yes Mrs. Robinson. I have a message for your son? A note was dropped off at the front desk for him. Is he present?" The bellboy at the door glanced down at the paper in his hand. "Mr. Jack Robinson?" I stood and walked to the door holding out my hand.

"That's me." the man gave a half bow and handed me the note.

"Is there anything I can do for you, Madam?" he offered. My mother shook her head and bid the boy good day pressing a few coins in his hand as tip. He left and I tore the non-descript wax seal open. The page was mostly white, save a few well scripted words.

 _Feeling hopeless yet, Inspector?_

 _No? We will have to work on that._

 _Keep walking in my shoes._

What the hell did that mean? I turned the paper back over to examine the other side for clues as to who this was from and what on earth it was referring to. It wasn't a miss-directed note, what other Inspectors were staying at the Windsor. And indeed it was addressed to Mr. Jack Robinson. I took another look at the seal I had paid no attention to and my heart sunk to the floor. Dear God no. The design I had previously disregarded as nothing special was, in fact, the exact opposite. It wasn't a seal at all. Someone had dripped wax onto the page and pressed in a pin. A pin shaped like a swallow.

 **Author's Note: What do you think? Is it good? Is it horrible?** **I want to improve as a writer so all criticism is appreciated! Thanks so much for reading my fic!**

 **XOXO - E**


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: Hey everyone! Thanks so much for all the love in your reviews! A lot of you reviewed without the option to message you so I will attempt to talk to you right here!**

 **SamuraiAnnie – Thanks so much for your review! I really appreciate the support!**

 **All the Anon. Guests – Thanks! I love you guys too!**

 **Aurora – Thanks for your review! I kind of hate it when I'm reading a fic and the chapters are this short so I get it. Normally I write chapters that are WAY longer in my other fics – but this is kind of coming to me in short bursts…maybe I will try to combo the next two chapters and just have a little break between? IDK – I promise I'll try!**

 **Bijoux53 – Thanks! That was pretty much what I was attempting to convey so I'm so glad someone got it!**

 **Capricorn – Psst. Here's a secret. I don't have this one mapped out as well as I usually do. Part of the reason there are no clues is because I don't really know what's happening yet. The characters will tell me soon and as soon as they do I'll get it out to all of you! Thanks so much for your review!**

 **And to Ariadne04 and Bluejello85 – thank you both so much for all of your support! You've been so nice to me and I wanted to thank you again for your support! XOXO**

 **Phryne**

"Miss Fisher." Henry was back with a sad look on his face. "Hey Miss Fisher, come on now. Wake up. There you go. Just look at me for a moment, won't ya? I gotta check your out sweetie."

"I'm not your sweetie." I mumbled under my breath, desperately trying to disappear back into that pleasant dream that smelled like Him and felt like His hands holding mine. Damn. It was gone. Now all I could smell was the damp, reeking basement I was encamped in and the faint scent of fish coming off of Henry. "And in case I hadn't made anything clear I'd like to tell you to piss off." The man chucked under his throat.

"You are a firecracker, aren't you? Where'd you learn language like that, anyhow?"

"Don't let the looks fool you. I'm a Collingwood girl."

"No shit! With money like that?" What was he doing? Trying to have a pleasant conversation with me? Not bloody likely. I ignored him and returned to my silence. He sighed, seemingly understanding what I was talking about. "Well, in case you care, you're looking healthy. I'm sure you're in pain and what have you, but for the circumstances I think you're just fine. You're going to get out of this, Miss Fisher."

"What the hell, you filling her head with, Henry?" Son of a bitch. Pots was back. The rank tubby man seemed to be falling down the stairs more than he was walking down them. "Boss man wants ta' talk to you, mate." Henry pursed his lips.

"I'm not your mate, Gates."

"Whatever. Just go see him. You know how Jimmy gets when he is kept waiting." Jimmy. The name of the man who had organized this. Pots didn't seem to realize his mistake but Henry did. He looked at me significantly and nodded slowly. As though the name 'Jimmy' was supposed to mean something to me. Henry slowly made his way up the stairs but I was no longer paying attention to either him or Pots. Jimmy. Jimmy. Was I supposed to know who Jimmy was? Had I met this Jimmy before? I knew a handful of Jimmy's. But it narrowed down the pool. Pots was talking again. Going on again about how he'd like to slit my throat. But I paid him no attention. Jimmy. Jimmy. Jimmy who?

 **Jack**

"I'm telling you!" I swore loudly, shaking the note in my hand in Johnson's face. "It's about her!"

"I'm not saying it definitely isn't about her." He repeated. "But how are you so sure?" I flipped it over showing him the seal.

"You're sure because of some wax with random markings that don't make a real seal?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"They aren't random. It's an impression of a pin she wears. The shape of a swallow." He squinted his eyes and looked closer.

"It doesn't look like a swallow." He said finally with a shake of his head. "It doesn't look like anything."

"Trust me. It's her pin." She took a deep breath, looking into my eyes and after what felt like a lifetime he shrugged.

"Okay, fine. It's about her. What's our next step? These words mean anything to you? Because if it is about her I feel rather more like they're taunting you by giving you something that tells you they have her but doesn't give you any real clues." I nodded.

"That's exactly what they're doing!" his brow furrowed and Johnson looked at me tipping his head to the side.

"So why do you seem so excited?"

"Because she's alive. And because it's something. And because I'm going to bring her home." With another sigh he gave up trying to reason with me and the senior constable nodded.

"Okay. Fine. What do you want me to do?"

"I questioned the man from the front desk, the one who delivered the note. It was given to him by a man he'd never seen before. A fisherman he guessed. About my height, brown hair, freckles a scraggly beard and a hooked nose. I've got her red raggers on it already." I smiled, for the first time in my life thanking God for those two.

"How so? What are they doing?"

"The desk man said he had walked south when he left. Those two can find just about anyone. They'll get to the bottom of this."

"With that information? That is a rather non-descript description, Jack! It could be almost anybody!"

"That's what I said. Then a homeless woman who had been sitting on the corner just south of the Windsor said she saw the man leaving the hotel, said he was the only one who threw change to her, and by to her, I mean he threw money at her. She said he was the only one walking about at that time. Got on the east side bus. Cec and Burt know the driver. Think he might be able to help." Johnson nodded.

"Fine. What do you want me to do?" I looked up at him.

"I had an idea." I began. "I need you to tell me if I'm crazy."

 **A/N: What did you think? Please review! XOXO - E**


	10. Chapter 10

**So I am horribly sorry about how long it's been since I updated…but I was all set and ready to write chapter 10 and I went back to review where we'd left off and I was like…Jack had an idea? What idea? I don't remember this! And I spent the next week trying to remember where I had been going with that. I still haven't figured that out. So I came up with something else! I hope you enjoy it!**

 **Jack**

"Whoever did this knows I gave her this pin. That narrows our list down pretty extensively. And the note. They're trying to make a point. They're trying to get to me."

"Jack, you don't know that." Johnson protested.

"If there's one thing Phryne Fisher has taught me it is that you should trust your gut. And my gut tells me this isn't about her. It's about me." My jaw clenched as I spoke. This was my fault. I was certain of it. I didn't know why, but I knew that if Phryne Fisher had never crossed my path she'd be sitting at home enjoying tea with her friends right now. "Someone I made feel hopeless. Someone I did something to. And now they want me to feel the same way. Walk in their shoes as it were. And Phryne's the key."

"And this person may or not have some connection to the docks and fishing." I nodded and Johnson continued. "Well if your gut is right, it stands to reason that their relationship to whomever you supposedly wronged them with would be the same as your relationship to Miss Fisher." Johnson's eyebrow raised curiously. "Which is what, exactly?" I took a deep breath, speaking the words that I had yet to fully admit to myself let alone say out loud.

"The love of my life." To his credit, Johnson said nothing, only nodded curtly.

"So this crazy idea of yours Robinson?" I looked up at him nervously.

"If I'm wrong about this I'm going to feel like a horrible person for the rest of my life. If I accuse this person and nothing happens I _will be_ a horrible person."

"Who, Jack?"

"What if it's Rosie?"

 **Elizabeth Edwards (AKA Beth, one of Jack's sisters)**

"Mum!" Even as an adult, with children of my own, seeing my mother after a prolonged absence always made me jump for joy. I ran forward and let her wrap me in her arms.

"Beth." Her voice was soft but firm, full of love and full of control. Was there anything better than being hugged, truly hugged by your mother?

"How's Johnny?" I asked with a grin.

"Why do you smile, Elizabeth Ann Robinson?" I rolled my eyes. I may be going on 7 years of marriage but if I so much as put a toe out of line I was 13 year old Elizabeth Ann Robinson, caught sneaking out of class to meet a boy. "I told you that your brother is distraught, that he is having a person and professional crisis. I told you that I had never seen him this upset, and I was including the week he returned from _war_."

"Yes. Over a _woman_. Johnny's in love mum. For real this time, not that ridiculous sham of a marriage to that absolute-"

"Beth." My husband stepped forward, cutting me off. "The children." I nodded. It wouldn't do to curse out their ex-aunt in front of them. No matter how much I had hated her. (But good lord was that woman boring, conceited and controlling. Jack deserved a hundred times better. And according to mum, he may have found that. He may have found something as rare as what I had with my husband Mark. Despite her disparagement for my grin earlier I found that a small smile was struggling to appear on my mother's face as well.

"It's not just the woman, Beth." I felt my eyes widen in excitement. "The woman has a child. Adopted. Her name is Jane and Johnny brought the girl home to meet all of us."

"He brought home a child?" I sputtered, unable to contain myself.

"It was the strangest thing. I've never seen him so protective. And the child had him twisted around her little finger, I tell you. I've always said Johnny would make an excellent father and as it turns out, I was right."

"Mom, is Uncle Johnny getting married?" I smiled down at my oldest son.

"I don't know Mathew. I guess we'll find out." However, the smile on my face was fleeting. It slipped away with my mother's next words.

"Only if he finds her."

 **A/N: I hope you liked it! Please review!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Phryne**

It was right there. On the tip of my tongue. Jimmy. Jimmy. Who was Jimmy? I knew that I knew a Jimmy. A Jimmy that felt like he would be the type to do something like this. But I couldn't quite put my finger on who I was thinking of! If I had access to a decent meal, a warm bath and a finger or two of whiskey I knew I would have solved this already but as it was, I was chained up, sore, tired and bleeding, starving, thirsty, and rather out of my head. I couldn't concentrate! I couldn't think! I just needed to focus and yet all I could fixate on were the beads of sweat dripping from my temples, the ache in my shoulders from being tied up at this odd angle, and the pain in my abdomen, begging me to eat. Jimmy who! I closed my eyes. It wasn't any of my socialite friends, of that I was certain. I had gone over every party I had been to in the past year (I had a lot of free time down in this pit and nothing much to do, so I found that particular activity a waste in the slightest.) And ran over every name. A few of my acquaintances bore the name James but none of them would have dared to be called 'Jimmy', far too common for the Earl of Ashbury and the new money heir to the Rigby cattle fortune. ( _He_ wanted to get as far away from his rather 'common' roots as soon as possible. It was to be James Elrond the Third and nothing less when addressing him.) I moved my way down the social latter. Mr. Butler had a butler friend named Jimmy Rathbone but he was simply the most jovial of men and even if he _had_ a rather menacing streak _and_ hated me and wanted to punish me for some reason, I still couldn't see the 60 year old man upset at being kept waiting. Once he had waited patiently in our kitchen for Mr. B to finish packing for their gentlemen's trip North, amusing himself the whole while by telling made up stories to Jane and Dot, trying, with varying degrees of success, to convince them that they were all true and that he indeed was a bull fighter in Spain for three years before he became the youngest man to ever climb Kilimanjaro in less than an hour. No. It wasn't him. It was someone else. I could feel it. I knew him. I knew this Jimmy.

Cec and Burt had a friend who had once been introduced to me as Jimmy but who had very soon after corrected me, claiming he hated his name (he had been named for an alcoholic and absent father) and much preferred his nickname, Slippy. (How he had come to claim such a moniker had never been properly explained to me.) No. He wasn't the type. It was someone else. Who else did I know named Jimmy? Who was Jimmy?

I cursed as again my mind fell short of the answer. Damn him. Well whomever he was, he was an ass. And the moment Jack Robinson found him, he was going to be a very sorry, ass.

 **Jack**

"Rosie." Johnson repeated in a monotone voice. "As in your ex-wife Rosie. What the hell are you talking about, Robinson?"

"I locked the supposed 'love of her life' up in prison. I took him away without so much as consulting her first. I took him, and I had to shoot him to keep him from hurting her," Somehow, without saying me saying it, Johnson seemed to understand that when I said her the last time I was no longer talking about Rosie. "All of a sudden she was miserable and lost and heartbroken and she blames me. Of course she blames me. What if she's doing the same thing to me? What if she's taken Phryne and is going to hurt her?"

"You know how you asked me to tell you if you were crazy? Well here it is Robinson. You're crazy. No way in hell Rosie was able to overtake Phryne Fisher, kidnap her and lock her up somewhere."

"Maybe not but she resents me. I wasn't able to be a good husband. I wasn't able to have children with her. But then after we divorced, I became the man she had wanted all along. I play the role of father with Phryne's child. I love her in a way I couldn't love Rosie, I am there for her in a way that I could never be with Rosie. Then I lock up her second chance at love along with her father and you don't think she would have enough anger to hire someone who could? She has the resources."

"Jack, you can't be serious. It's Rosie."

"That's exactly my point, Johnson." He was quiet for a moment before sighing.

"I don't think you're right. But at the same time I won't ever forgive myself if you are right and I convinced you not to trust your gut and check up on her. I'm not saying we bring her in, Jack, I'm saying maybe we take a moment and go talk to her. You know her well. If she is lying or hiding something I suspect you'll know." I nodded.

"Fine. But we do it now."

"Jack," Johnson called out as I hurried to fetch my hat and coat. "If you're right, you have to keep your head. Let me arrest her. Let me handle it. You won't remain calm. You'll do something you regret."

"I'm not so sure I'll regret it."

"Jack Robinson, promise me." I took a deep breath. I knew I was right. It didn't matter how it happened. I would have Phryne back soon. I nodded.

"Fine. When I prove I'm right, you can arrest her." I stalked out the door, hurrying to the nearest car. "But God her if we don't bring Miss Fisher back."

 **Author's Note: What do you think? Do you love it? Do you hate it? Please tell me! Thank you all so much for reading and thank you to everyone who left reviews!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note: Hello all! Thanks to everyone who let me know about my coding issues! I have fixed them and this should be plain text – no weird coding embedded in! (I hope. If that issue comes up again let me know!) Enjoy!**

 **So I just saved this chapter as the first letters of the title instead of typing out the whole thing…and it spells Bomb. That's nice. And oddly foreshadowing...hmm. Anyway – thanks so much for staying with me here and reading my fic! Please review! I want to improve my writing so any and all criticism is appreciated! XOXO – E**

 _So some people are confused by order of children in this fic (understandably because I never really explained it well...sorry!) So here is a rundown._

 _Jack's brother and sisters in order of Oldest to youngest: Luke (married to Martha, two children, Maggie and Elliot) then Jack, then Elizabeth, AKA Beth (Married to Louis Edwards, Three children (and another on the way but no one but her knows that yet!), Annie, Mathew, and Jacob.) Then Jack has another little sister Ellie, who is not in this fic (yet) – she like our favorite lady detective is a thoroughly modern woman!_

 _Anyway – I hope that clears things up! Enjoy the fic!_

 **Jack**

"Johnson!" I was all but screaming but I didn't care. "I'm telling you, it's her! You swore you'd arrest her!"

"I said I would if there was any evidence to support your theory."

"Did you not hear her say-"

"For God's sake, Jack. We've been over this twice now! She made a mistake as to which night we were referring! As soon as her companion corrected her she remembered properly and rectified the statement. When has Rosie ever been that particular about her life? Do you remember the time she-"

"Yes, yes, we can reminisce later! The point is she lied!"

"She made a mistake! And we've even confirmed her final statement! You were there – you heard that concierge say she'd never left her hotel room that night!"

"And why would she randomly decide to stay in a hotel? In the very city win which she has a home _and_ access to her family's home? Hmm? It doesn't seem odd to you that she very conveniently has an alibi that isn't family? As in she knew something was going to happen that night?"

"Jack you're reaching."

"I'm not. I'm right. We need to bring her in."

"For what? What grounds do we have Jack? None! Have Collins keep an eye on her movements if you must but you are grasping at straws and I'll not let you hurt her further! As soon as Miss Fisher is back safe and sound, you would hate yourself for hurting Rosie like this!" I sighed. He was right. I knew that she was hurt that I'd had to question her. (not that we told her what we actually suspected her of.) If she was innocent and I hurt her, after everything I'd already done, I would feel horribly guilty. An image of Phryne flashed through my mind. Guilt be damned. I couldn't be too careful.

"Collins!" I called out, the boy already running towards me the moment I glanced towards him.

"Yes sir?"

"Follow Ms. Sanderson."

"Your wife sir?"

"My Ex-wife. Yes. Follow her movements. See who she meets with, where she goes, anything out of the ordinary. His brow was furrowed, he opened his mouth to question the orders but the look I gave silenced him instantly.

"Yes, sir. On my way sir."

 **Beth (As in Jack's sister Elizabeth Edwards:)**

"Mum! Uncle Johnny is here!" Annie, my oldest ran towards me. "He just got here! He's in Grandma's suite!" I smiled and collected my children around me. It had been so long since I'd seen my big brother. A few knocks later and we poured into the room, looking around for my handsome if a bit boring brother. The sight that greeted me was not even close to what I expected. I had seen my brother after he returned from a war that destroyed the boy he had been, I saw him when his wife moved out to live with her sister. He had been a shell of a man. He had locked himself behind a wall and refused to as much as glance out. This was not that man. So much emotion clouded his face: hurt, panic, terror, frustration and anger. The man I knew showed no emotion. He locked them away. And here he was a bawling mess, but human. More human than I'd seen him in years. Tears drown my eyes, threatening to roll down my face but a quick dab with a handkerchief cleaned them up quickly.

"Johnny." My voice broke but I didn't care. My brother. My brother was back. A mess, brokenhearted but it was _him._ It wasn't the imposter that had been steering his body for far too long. It was _him_. I didn't know how or why but whatever or whomever had done this, well, I couldn't thank them enough.

"Beth." A hint of a smile appeared on his face as he jumped to his feet and strode towards me wrapping me in a hug. I gasped. The last time he hugged me like this was just after his wedding, back before the war. This was real. This was happening. I clung to him and smiled widely. "I've missed you. Thank God you made it here all right." I nodded, pulling back enough to cup his face in my hands and look at him.

"Look at you." he blushed.

"I know. I'm a wreck." I shook my head.

"Yes, but you're you again." His brow furrowed, not understanding but before I could explain my children assaulted their uncle. He crouched to their level and put a smile on his face, fake though it was, he fooled them and the fact that he cared enough to do so melted my heart. I reached for mother's hand and gripped it tight. She nodded without words, understanding perfectly.

"It's her." She murmured a few minutes later as we watched him play with my children. "She's brought him to life again. Since they started working together, each phone call, each letter has been filled with something of my son. My real son. He's happy." She wrapped her arm around me. "When he got divorced I thought he'd be broken again, you know Jack and how honorable he'd like to be. You know he'd never have gotten divorced if Rosie hadn't begged him. And yet, all of a sudden, he sounded so hopeful. That's when I knew it. He'd gone and fallen for someone."

"What kind of rotten luck does he have?" I whispered back. "To go through everything he's been through, and after all of that hell, he finally finds a woman who brings him back to life, finally finds love, and she gets herself bloody kidnapped!" I shook my head. "She can't die, mum. She just can't die."

 **Well? What do you think? Please review!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Beth**

"Jack!" A child's voice rang through the air, sending a chill up my spine. For some reason, that child was frantic and as a mother I wanted nothing more than to wrap the child in my arms and protect them from the world. The child who owned it raced through the station and burst past me. I had come with lunch to be sure my brother ate. I knew him. He wouldn't take a break if he could help it. But he needed to eat.

"Jane? What's wrong?" My brother. Stoic. Solid. Never wavering. All but ran out of his office and practically fell to his knees at the girl's feet, his arms reaching out for her instantly.

"Fish." His brow furrowed and he didn't respond, rather waiting for clarification. I felt as though I was watching a moving picture. I was intrigued by the tableau before me, I had a stock in the tale unfolding, but I didn't necessarily have anything to do with this story. "Fish, Jack. Collin's told Dot that you all thought that this case was someone trying to get their own back. And then I got him to tell me everything you lot knew about the case and something stuck out to me. Fish!"

"Janie, you're supposed to be in school. Are you skipping class to solve a case you have no legal jurisdiction on?" the girl smirked.

"What can I say, Jack? I must take after Phryne." Johnny's jaw clenched at this but the girl kept smiling.

"A few weeks ago, Phryne was telling me stories about all of the cases you'd worked on. She told me about the time a man who worked down at the _fish docks_ came to you and said that someone was holding his wife captive."

"That had nothing to do with this situation, Jane. His wife hadn't been held captive she had run off with her lover." I blanched. This was not the sort of thing Johnny should be speaking to children about.

"Yes but the man, Jimmy, wasn't his name?" Johnny nodded, still clearly confused. "Jimmy, he was convinced that his wife was tricked into it but you both had to drop the case and he sat crying to Bert and Cec while they drove him back to his about how hopeless he felt and the note you got asked if you felt hopeless yet!" Jack! What if Jimmy had Phryne kidnapped to teach you a lesson?" Johnny slowly shook his head.

"There are a few similarities, I'll give you that much, Jane. But this is a lot bigger than that. Whomever did this, knows that I gave her that pin. Jimmy would have no way of knowing that. And he may feel helpless but I have nothing to do with that. Phryne and I took great care with his case, it isn't our fault his wife left him. I have a lead, Janie, I will find her."

"Jack, you're kidding. You don't think there's anything to this?"

"Jane I will find her. But you need to take a step back." The girl took a literal step back, shaking her head.

"Jack, I'm sure about this."

"Janie, we need to get you back to school." Dear God but he sounded like Father. In fact this entire exchange. Mother hadn't been kidding. Every touch between the two, every look, how he leaned towards her, how he reached for her, how he now put her before anything else.

"Forget it Jack."

"Janie," the girl turned and fled and Johnny buried his face between his hands. I waited a moment before stepping back. I set down the basket of food and left. He didn't need me right now. He needed Phryne. He needed to solve his case before he fell apart for good. And the only thing I could do about it was stay out of his way.

 **Jack**

I just wanted to protect Jane. Couldn't she see that? I just wanted to keep her from getting hurt! I'd already endangered Phryne, I couldn't be the reason Jane got mixed up in something she wasn't prepared for. Besides, I hadn't been lying. Yes, Phryne and I knew a fisherman who had once stated that he felt hopeless. But that had nothing to do with this conversation. There was no motive.

Phryne had been missing almost a month now. I was going absolutely mad without her. I hadn't slept in days, I could barely eat. My family had decided to stay in town lest I needed anything. They were all so constantly worried about me. Me. Why worry about me when the most incredible woman in the world had been taken? Someone could be hurting her! Someone could be…no. No Jack. Do not allow your mind down that path or you will truly go mad. Phryne was missing. Phryne was in trouble. Nearly the entire force, so strong and full of conviction at first had been convinced by that imbecile Constable that she'd run off with another man and that this was merely a wild goose chase. Even when the letter turned up, real evidence, suggesting a real case, he'd merely told them that Phryne had helped plan it, a way to break it off with her boring old Detective friend who'd she'd been using to pass the time. As if she were some cruel harlot. She was far from that. They didn't understand. She loved easily and powerfully; with a heart that beat as strongly as a hurricane. She would never intentionally hurt anyone. If she had the power to help, to alleviate some sort of pain, she would go too far in order to enact her mercy on those around her. Even if she had decided to leave me, Phryne Fisher would do all she could to keep me from feeling pain.

This wasn't about Phryne and I. This wasn't about some old case. This was all about Rosie. I could feel it in my bones. And Johnson refused to do a thing about it. So I was going to have to. I was going to have to. I didn't have another choice. I needed her like I needed to breathe and right now I was drowning. Gasping for air, I knew what I had to do. I stood up from where I still crouched on the floor and reached out to the desk to grab my keys before racing off to my car. I drove like a fiend (no, I drove like Phryne) to Rosie's house and I was not proud to say that I pounded on her door.

"Jack?" she asked, upon opening the door barely more than a crack. "Twice in one week, what a surprise."

"Enough is enough, Rosie." I stared her down. "This ends now. What do you want from me? What will it take for you to let this go?"

"Jack I haven't the slightest idea what you are talking about."

"You knew I gave her that pin. You knew I was falling in love with her! I had hurt you and you wanted to hurt me back. But she is innocent in all of this! She has done nothing. I beg of you, let her go. Take me instead. Do what you will to me but leave her be."

"Dear Lord, Jack." She frowned, shaking her head. "You've gone mad. If you saw yourself just now you'd think you were some sort of street vagrant. When was the last time you've eaten, or combed your hair?" Combed my hair? Yes, it hung in odd rings around my face but who had time for pomade when the woman you were desperately in love with had been kidnapped by the woman you used to think you loved? "And now you show up sprouting gibberish! I have no idea what you're saying so you better come in and have a cup of tea while you explain yourself." She stepped aside and let me in. This was not what I expected. I expected vague hints at her guilt, I expected her to taunt me, but never admit to a thing. I expected her to smile at me, to revel in how her scheme had unmanned me. Perhaps this was all yet to come. What was the proper way to respond to an invitation to tea with the woman holding your beloved captive?

Half an hour later found me with a rather irate Rosie and an empty cup of tea.

"John Robinson. I'm telling you for the last time. I have nothing to do with her disappearance. I didn't like her but I have no reason to go to such drastic methods."

"I put your father and fiancé in prison after divorcing you and making you the talk of the town. You hate me."

"Forgive me Jack, but you are being a complete imbecile. I don't hate you. In case you'd forgotten, I was the one who asked _you_ for the divorce. And Sydney and Father were being horrible and immoral. They deserved every ounce of the punishment they got. I was upset that I had trusted people who would do that sort of thing but I was never angry at you for it." She signed and sipped at her tea. "And as for this pin, I had seen her wear it but I had no idea you'd given it to her."

"You said something once about me 'adorning her with appurtenances' or something like that. To what were you referring if not the pins?!"

"That football game! Between Abbotsford and West! You were staring into each other's eyes in such a sickeningly adorable way I'd never forget it. You pulled the scar from around your neck and wrapped her up in it, the two of you lost in your own little world. I was angry at you because you'd never looked at me like that nor taken such great care of me and that was when I realized that it was a wonderful thing that we'd gotten divorced because I deserved someone who loved me the way you love Phryne Fisher." Silence hung thick in the air between us.

"Love her? I didn't love her then. We were coworkers, acquaintances. She's always liked to flirt but she flirted with everyone, not just me. We aren't…" I trailed off, unable to explain our situation. "We haven't…"

"You haven't been sleeping together?" Rosie cried out in shock. "No! That's impossible! Being in the same room as the two of you and your eye trysts practically feels indecent."

"Rosie we aren't together. I haven't even kissed her yet, not really."

"Not really? Jack Robinson what does that mean?"

"It was ages ago. I'd only just met her. We were on a case together and it was personal for her. An ex with a penchant for violence showed up in town and we were staking out a location he'd be meeting one of our other suspects at and she got nervous and kept looking at him. She was about to blow our cover and I needed to hide her face and distract her as soon as I could so I kissed her."

"Let me guess. We were still technically married and you worked yourself up, feeling awfully guilty over it and never spoke of it again." My silence was answer enough for her and so she went on speaking. "But since then? Surely there have been a few kisses. All those nights you go to her house after work? All the cases you work together on in close proximity? Those events at her Aunt's she drags you to? Nothing?"

"She is a thoroughly modern woman, Rosie. She likes men with adventurous jobs and deep pockets. She would never be with a man like me and I don't want to kiss her only to know that she's off to find Lin Chung or some other bloke soon after and dear lord Rosie! Why am I having this conversation while she's off maybe hurting somewhere? It may not be you but it is someone! I need to find her!"

"Because you love her. Because you have loved her for a very long time. Because despite all your feelings of self-inadequacy you know that she loves you too because Jack I've watched you too together and she _does_ love you. The two of you, it's almost electric between you. You have the kind of love we all dream of and you haven't even told her how you feel. You're wasting so much precious time. What has happened to Miss Fisher is unfortunate and I will pray that this ordeal is over soon but I pray it also shows you what fools you both are. Life is short, accidents happen, horrible things happen Jack. And what if you died tomorrow and never got to tell her how you feel? What if something went wrong and you didn't have forever to live a life together, to love one another? We can never be sure of anything in the world Jack, Father and Sydney taught me that. But I sure as hell don't want to sit around and let life pass me by because I am afraid of change." I stared at my ex-wife. She had never spoken like that during our marriage. We were different people now. And I was glad to call her my friend. "Jack, promise me, if you find her, you'll tell her." I nodded.

"I promise Rosie."

"Good. Now go find her and lay on some of that Robinson charm that captured my heart all those years ago. I know it's still there somewhere."

I had no leads. I'd returned to the station, begrudgingly accepting Rosie's innocence in this. I had looked into her eyes and seen the truth. She held no ill will for me nor for Phryne. I was relieved. For a moment. Until I realized that this meant I was further away from finding Phryne. I ran my hand through my hair and buried my face on the desk. This was pure torture. To have her dangled before me only to know that I couldn't do a damn thing to save her. This was… _I_ was…

I was hopeless. I felt completely and abjectly hopeless.

"Inspector!" Miss Williams rushed through the door, Collins on her heels. "Inspector, it's Jane. She's left a note. She says she going after a lead and she's going to bring Phryne home. She's taken one of Miss Fisher's guns, Inspector!"

 **Soooooooo…what do you think? Working on the next chapter! I'm so sorry for the long wait! I'll do my best to be more regular with updates! Please please review! xoxo - E**


	14. Chapter 14

**Phryne**

"What do you plan on doing to me?" I asked Pots who simply leered at me with a smirk.

"What would her majesty like me to do with her?" His breath was just as foul as his insinuation and I couldn't help but wrinkle my nose at him as he spoke.

"Her majesty would like you to tell her why you are untying her and where you plan to take her."

"Well there's lots of places I'd _like_ to take her, if you get my drift." I sighed.

"Of course I 'get your drift' you buffoon. You're as witty and subtle as rock to the head." His brow contorted as he tried to reply but he seemed to be having trouble coming up with words that would do the trick.

"The boss man wants to see you miss." Henry stepped down the stairs and gently pushed Pots aside. "I'll take over, Gates."

"But-" Pots was quick to protest but Henry clearly held rank here.

"No. I've a handle on this. Get back to the boat, they need help hauling in the catch of the day." I knew I smelled fish. Pots grumbled the whole way but did as he was told. As his footsteps faded away into silence Henry smiled softly at me. "Sorry, miss. I'm going to clean you up a bit before you go meet the boss man."

"Who is he, Henry?" I asked. Henry didn't answer, instead wiping the grime away from my hands.

"He doesn't want me to say, miss. He wants to know if you recognize him, and giving you clues right off gives you time to think on it, you see." I frowned. I was too tired and sore (and _starving_ – what I wouldn't give for a dish of Mr. Butlers gratin right now!) to decide whether or not that made sense or was just odd.

Henry had cleaned me up. Well enough, anyway. My hands were still bound but my feet were not and Henry led me up the stairs. _To climb a set of stairs!_ I thought to myself in a way that was surprisingly not sarcastic. _The joy of something as simple as climbing the stairs._ I stepped out of the pit of hell that was the basement I had been stored in and into the light.

That's when I saw him.

"Miss Fisher. Perhaps you don't recall. I'm-"

"Jimmy Thompson." He looked pleased I remembered him. Jimmy ran his fingers through his hair and nodded.

"Yes. I would like to apologize."

"Let me go and we can let bygones be bygones." I suggested quickly. He laughed. Bastard.

"Very amusing Miss Fisher. I would like it if this situation were that easy, but as it is, that is not possible." He took a breath and a drink of something that, while I couldn't tell precisely what it was, I was certain it was alcohol of some sort. "I would like to apologize because at the end of the day, this has little to do with you. Well, no. That's not true. But it has far less to do with you than it does your lover." Jack. Dear God, this was an attempt to get at Jack.

"He's not my lover." Even I knew that protest – while true – was weak. Jimmy laughed.

"Perhaps. But he loves you. And now you've disappeared. Just like my Emily disappeared. And when I felt hopeless, that was when Jack Robinson took away even the small comforts I had left. So I shall do the same." My blood chilled.

"What are you talking about?"

"You have disappeared. He has finally become truly and utterly hopeless. The men he works with are constantly suggesting that you haven't been taken, you've run off with another man. He is in my shoes. Perhaps now, he will understand what he did to me."

"The difference of course being that Emily _did_ run off, whereas you kidnapped me."

"Shut it, whore. You would have left him for another man eventually, I just couldn't wait any longer." He said the words with such certainty it made me shiver. Is that who I was? Someone so callous, so unfaithful that it was unimaginable that I had found true love and would be able to stay with it. Perhaps before. Before Jack. But now, after Jack, everything had changed. "It doesn't matter. The feeling is the same. Doubting, unsure, wanting to believe in your love, that she loves you too, but hopeless, seed of doubt shifting through you, growing."

"I haven't run off." I snapped at him. "And Jack will find out."

"I'm counting on it. And when he does, he will also find out that you have been ruined for him." I snorted with laughter.

"Don't bother. I've been ruined more times you can count." Jimmy frowned.

"I am aware. But then you met him. Then he fell in love with you. Then you began to have feelings for you. And now all he can think about is him and you, forever. No one else. There's no one else for him, and he wants to be the only one for you. Now that things have changed, who becomes involved with your loins has changed. It will break him. Even when he takes you back, he won't be able to stop thinking about it. Years from now, he won't be able to forget it. And it will tear you two apart. And then, perhaps then, you will understand my heartbreak."

"Jimmy!" I protested. "Why are you doing this? Emily left you and broke your heart and that is horribly sad and I feel for you, but that isn't Jack nor my fault! When you thought she'd been kidnapped or killed we did our best to find her. But all the evidence pointed to a different story and when we had proof of that we had no choice but to accept it! That wasn't our fault! So why are you trying to make us pay?" He didn't answer; he just glowered at me.

"You don't understand."

"Jimmy, please, don't do this."

"It's too late, Miss Fisher. I'm too far in."

"It's never too late, Jimmy. I won't say a thing. Let me go now and I won't press charges!"

"That isn't what I mean. It's too late for me, Miss Fisher. I'm too far gone." He stepped towards me. "He will come for you soon, Miss Fisher. He's already figured out that it wasn't Rosie, it's only a matter of time before he stumbles upon you. And if he doesn't, I'll send him a little clue. When it happens, I will come for you, and I will set the stage for the dear inspector." He didn't mean, he couldn't mean… "As I said, Miss Fisher. I would like to apologize. I am going to do something rather horrible to you. I thought I should be the one to tell you myself. Anyway, Henry, take her back downstairs." Henry slunk forward, refusing to meet my eyes. I was returned unceremoniously to my chamber of horribleness and I noticed that Henry was tearing up.

"Just let me go, Henry." I pleaded softly. I could yet escape the fate Jimmy had lined up for me. I knew Henry pitied me. Perhaps he could be persuaded to protect me.

"I can't, miss."

"Why not?"

"He saved my life. Three times, actually. Twice in the war and again not two months ago. Risked his own life to push me out of the way of a speeding car. I owe him my life three times over."

"He's going to defile me." I protested. "What kind of man repays a debt with such a vile act?"

"What kind of man saves another's life with the intent to collect on that debt? It is that type of man who requires such appalling payment. But as a man of honor, I must repay my debt."

"A man of honor would not allow this to happen to a lady."

"You are many things, Miss Fisher. But surely a _lady_ is not one of them." If I could I would have slapped him. "He will not kill anyone, and it is not as though you are a virgin, no?"

"And that makes this okay?"

"I'm sorry Miss Fisher. It must be this way."

"No!" I called out after him as he all but fled the room. "No it doesn't! You fool! Let me go!"

But of course, this isn't a storybook. So he didn't.

 **Author's Note: Thoughts? Please review!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Phryne**

"Oh Miss Fisher!" Jimmy's voice was gleeful as he called for me from upstairs. "Someone fetch Miss Fisher!" He commanded. "I have a little gift for her." I wanted to hurl. He could not be serious. When Henry rushed down the steps to get me, he wouldn't meet my eyes.

"Is this it?" I asked. "Is he going to rape me now?" Henry busied himself with the knots around my wrist and I flinched as the rope dug into the burns it had cut into my arms.

"No, Miss." His voice cracked and I frowned. Then what on earth was going on? "I'm very sorry Miss, I had nothing to do with this."

"Nothing to do with what? I all but screamed. "Henry, what's happening?" I was half led, half dragged up the stairs and out of the basement. When I looked at the tableau before me my heart stopped. There in Jimmy's arms, was something worse than the worst nightmare I could have thought of.

"Jane." I breathed out. Jimmy laughed and I gritted my teeth at the sound. "Let her go." I growled. "She has nothing to do with this. Let her go."

"I'm so sorry, Phryne." She begged. "I went to Jack but he wouldn't listen so I set out to get you on my own. I shouldn't have gotten caught, I'm so sorry."

"No Jane, I'm sorry. You shouldn't be involved in something like this."

"She won't be harmed." Jimmy said. "I'll keep her here, maybe motivate the inspector a bit, evidently you aren't quite enough. But you're right. She's innocent in all of this. She can stay with you in the basement until Jack Robinson comes to fetch you all." I breathed a sigh of relief. It was better than I expected. "Of course, that could be considered a gift, and you know me. If I'm going to give a gift I'd like one in return." I shivered.

"Fine. What do you want?" I asked.

"A little cooperation when the time comes." I stiffened, understanding his meaning instantly. He wanted me not to fight him when the time came to deflower me. (So to speak, anyhow. If I ever bared any resemblance to a flower it was a long time past and I had little recollection of such a time.) I looked at Jane and then back to him, nodding almost imperceptibly. For Jane, I would do anything.

 **Jack**

Jane had run off because I hadn't taken the time to listen to her. This was my fault. All of this was my fault. What if she got lost, or hurt? That would all be on me. I had never been this worried in my entire life. My palms were in a constant state of sweatiness, and my hands wouldn't stop shaking. Johnson and Collins were in the car with me and I thanked God I had been listening well enough to know what her hunch was. Jimmy was a nice enough man. If she had just run to him and she hadn't come across someone else, someone with more nefarious ideas about what to do with a lost little girl, (I gnashed my teeth and growled, speeding up the car.) then she was in trouble.

I pulled up to the house that we'd interviewed Jimmy in and all but leapt from the car. I ran up the front steps and pounded on the door. It took me a moment to see the small paper nailed to the side of his home. **J.R.** it said. I pulled it from the nail and flipped the card over. **You didn't think it would be** _ **that**_ **easy, did you?** I froze. Holy hell. Jane had been right. This absolutely had something to do with Jimmy. I was a fool. If only I had listened to Jane! I crumpled the note in my hand. This was it.

Jimmy.

That bastard had taken my girl. And now he had my daughter.

He had better watch out. I was coming for him.

 **I'm so sorry it's been forever! I'm a bit blocked and I have three other WIPs that I'm in the midst of so this one is kind of getting put to the side. I'm just running out of juice I guess** **(It's probably the lack of new MFMM content! Come on ABC!) But don't worry – I will keep going and get through this story soon! I hope you are all still enjoying it! Please comment with any ideas you have and advice for my writing! XOXO - E**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Okay I know. I'm officially an awful person. I'm officially the person I bemoan about – that person who starts writing a fic and then lets blockages/life get in the way of updating and just strings all my loyal and wonderful readers along by updating often enough that I'm not officially on hiatus but not so often that the story flows. I'm sure you all haven't read this fic in a while so I am going to begin with a recap to get us all back on the same page: Thank you all so much for sticking with me and I hope this chapter is worth the wait!**

 **Recap:** Jack's family surprises him with a visit and soon after hear mentions of a certain Lady Detective from those close to Jack. They begin to suspect there is more then what Jack has told them going on here but before our dashing detective inspector can set the record straight, Phryne is kidnapped by a disgruntled man who one employed Phryne and Jack to find his "missing" wife (more like philandering wife). Also Jack doesn't know who kidnapped her just yet. Jack begins to go crazy when he is unable to find her for nearly a month until a sneaking suspicion tells him his ex-wife may have something to do with Phryne's disappearance (she doesn't). Jane comes to him with a different suspicion but Jack brushes her off, not wanting her to get involved. (Now may be a good time to mention that Jack and Jane have gotten even closer after Phryne's disappearance and she often stays with him and his family – seeing him as something of a father figure for her.) Of course Jane has been living with Phryne for a while so 'not getting involved' isn't something she understands. She rushes off to save Phryne and gets caught up in the whole mess.

As far as recapping what this whole mess is: a fisherman named Jimmy thought his wife had been kidnapped and so he enlisted the help of Phryne and Jack to find her only to find her in the arms of her lover. Jimmy goes a bit crazy and somehow has blamed our dear Inspector and his Lady Love for this turn of events and now he seeks retribution for Jack's supposed 'nonchalance' in regards to the events that took place. (We know that Jack keeps his emotions close to his chest and maintains a professional demeanor but Jimmy took it as Jack didn't care.) Now Jimmy has Phryne and Jane and has a convoluted plan to convince Jack (or something like that) that Phryne has run off and is cavorting with another man. He has bought Phryne's complacency by threatening Jane. As long as Phryne plays along, Jane is safe.

Jack has now come to the realization that Jimmy is in fact the culprit (not Rosie – sorry to everyone who hates her…) and is off to find them. Whew! Okay here we go!

 **Jack**

Now that I had more proof, some of the others had gotten back on our team and were hunting down Jimmy Thompson. Collins and one of his young friends had traced the fisherman to a neighborhood a mile north of the fishing docks. I would knock down every door until I found her. Until I found them. He had Phryne. He had _my daughter._ Any thoughts he had about getting out of there unharmed were purely the dreaming of a madman.

"Johnny!"

"Beth? What are you doing here?"

"Mum said you had a lead, that you were going after someone for this." I nodded sharply, strapping a gun to my hip. "Johnny don't do this."

"What? Beth, it's not just Phryne anymore, it's Jane too. They've taken my family, Beth. And you want me to sit back and let him go?!"

"Not let him go! Just, let someone who has a clear head handle this, Jack. This man clearly wants to get to you. Don't play into his hands, you're going to get yourself hurt. Let someone else handle this Jack."

"Beth,"

"She's right, Jack." I spun around to see Constable Johnson standing beside me with pursed lips. "You're too close to this one. You need to sit it out, let the rest of us do our jobs."

"Not a chance in hell." I growled. "I can handle myself. You think I wasn't just as close to the issue when she was taken by the man who murdered her sister? What about the time Mrs. Stanley's friend's son tried to silence her after she found out the truth when we were investigating those murders on the beach? I can do my job."

"This is different. Those were one off events that happened during the line of investigation. They happened before any of us had the chance to think about it. This is been going on for weeks, Jack. You can't think clearly. And we can't risk you doing something stupid."

"Like what?" I snapped at him.

"Like killing the bastard before he's had his fair trial, mate."

"Johnson,"

"Don't bother, Jack. The Commissioner has already given the order. You're to stay here." He turned his head. "Constables Smith and Avery. You will stay with Detective Inspector Jack and are allowed to use any force necessary to keep him here."

"Johnson!" My heart was pounding fast. Too fast. This was it. This had to be. It had almost been a month of living in my parents' hotel room which I knew perfectly well they only stayed in so that I wouldn't be alone here in the city. Almost a month without seeing her smile. Almost a month without hearing her laugh. Almost a month without a sharing a drink. Almost a month since I'd been happy _. Dear Lord, I don't deserve you to hear my prayer, I know that. But please, let them be safe. Let them be alive. Let them come home to me. And God, let me love them for the rest of our lives. Le my family be together again._ "Johnson, please." I begged him, too worried to be embarrassed about how my voice cracked.

"This is non-negotiable Jack. Fire me tomorrow if you wish but tonight I'm going to fetch Miss Fisher and Miss Jane back. And you're going to come out of this alive."

 **Phryne**

"There's a cop car down the street." Jimmy's voice was filled with glee. "Here comes your prince, Miss Fisher." Jane was locked safely downstairs. Say what you would about Henry but he had a soft spot for children and I knew he'd keep her safe from Pots. At least she didn't have to see this. Jimmy had all but forced me into a night gown that, based on the size, had belonged to Emily at one point. White, clinging, fake silk hung off me awkwardly. The shoulder was torn causing the dress to sit lopsided, the top of my breasts clearly on view. My makeup was long since gone, and not that I was the kind of woman who needed to hide herself or had no confidence without her powdered courage, but it made me feel strong, it made me feel like me. It was my armor. And I was without it.

My wrists were tied tightly together. Jimmy knew me well enough to know that I was resourceful, that I would take any chance I could to get Jane to safety. The ropes that held my hands together also tied me securely to the ends of the chaise lounge (if one could reasonably call it that) I was seated on. It could have been worse. He could have tied me up on display like a common whore for all to see. My cheeks were flushed. If he was right and Jack was here, he would have this image of me fixed in his mind. I didn't want that. I didn't ever want him to see me as helpless, as needing his saving. I didn't want him to see me as weak. I sighed. I didn't know how I could face Jack Robinson if he saw me like this.

"They're going to come in here. He's going to see us. And then he will be ruined. Just like me. Then he will understand."

"Your logic makes no sense. None of this makes sense!" if I could have I would have thrown up my hands in frustration. "How is this supposed to prove anything? How is this supposed to avenge your feelings? Emily left you. And it hurt you and I'm sorry for it. But none of that is Jack's fault. None of that is my fault. How does hurting us fix what happened to you?" SLAM. The knuckles of his hand made harsh contact with the side of my face as he backhanded me. I tasted blood as my lip split, but to be perfectly honest, it was a good thing he had hit me. It grounded me. It held me in place. It reminded me that I was brave. That I was strong. That I could do this. Jimmy sat next to me, a glower fixed on his face.

"Shut it, whore. And wait. Your lover will be here soon and then it will all be okay. Everything will be right again." He reached out slowly and caressed my face. Never have I been so revolted. His skin was like acid against mine and I only just held in the urge to vomit.

"He's not my lover. But I can say this for Jack Robinson." He snorted in laughter.

"What?"

"He's going to chew you up and spit you out before you've had the chance to say 'sorry'." Jimmy snarled. My heart was beating fast. Too fast. I hoped to God that someone other than Jack would be the first one through the door. That Jack wouldn't be the one to confront Jimmy. Because I knew Jack. And even though there was nothing romantic between us, though I wasn't his woman in the sense that everyone seemed to assume, I knew that he was very protective. Not only of me but particularly so of Jane. And I didn't want him to do something that he would regret, something that would put him in prison or worse. I couldn't live without Jack. And I would have to stop him before he did something stupid. _Oh Lord, I don't deserve to pray. I don't deserve you to hear me, I know that, but if you could, keep Jack away from here, away from Jimmy. Let someone else come._

"You act as though he's the innocent party here. As though he's victim in all this. _I_ am the victim, Miss Fisher. It was my heart that was broken. It was my life that was destroyed."

"And tell me how any of that is the fault of Jack Robinson? Tell me how he is the guilty one in any of this?"

 **Beth**

"Mum, you'd better come down here. Johnny's about to wear a whole through the floor he's pacing so hard and I don't know how to calm him down. The Constables they've left to watch him aren't helping a wit and I'm afraid he's actually going insane." I held the phone tightly to my ear, my hand shaking as I watched my brother's own hands shaking like leaves during a storm. He held a photo in his hand, that was clear, though what it was of I didn't know.

"Sit tight, Beth. We are on our way over. A nice lady is going to watch the kids so as soon as she's settled in with them we'll call a cab." I nodded.

"Thanks, mum. I don't know what to do."

"Elizabeth Ann Robinson, yes you do. You have known that boy your entire life and he's more like you than anyone else I can think of. You can do this. We will be there soon but in the meantime, you can do this." I nodded again, knowing full well that she couldn't hear a nod over the phone and yet unsure of what to actually say. "Now hang up this phone and go talk to your brother." Click. At least mom was acting like her usual self. I walked over to Johnny and peered over his shoulder. The picture was of a woman with cropped, sleek black hair, her fingers held up to her eyes like glasses and her lips pursed in what could almost be described as a kiss.

"Is that her?" I ask. He jumps a bit but pursing his lips tightly together he nods curtly.

"I arrested her and these were the poses she made as we took her photo for booking." He holds out a few more, each of a vibrant, smiling, laughing. This was a woman as unlike the proper and properly boring Rosie as could be possible. This was a woman who brought life to each room she entered This was a woman who was unlike any other my brother had been interested and given the way he'd been the last month, this woman was something more than the love of his life. This was a true soul mate. This was the woman who brought my brother back from the dead. The woman who saved him. And with that, I started a silent prayer that she return to him safely. _God, bring her home. Today. Now. Bring this woman back. I've never met her, but I already love her for what she's done for Johnny. Please God._

"Tell me about her. That way when they bring her home today I will already know her." he looked up into my eyes.

"Do you believe that?"

"She's coming home, Johnny. So don't worry about that. Just tell me about her." His shoulders dropped a bit as he took a deep breath and relaxed just a bit.

"I met Phryne at a crime scene. A friend of hers had just killed her husband though neither of us knew it at the time, she played the grieving widow quite convincingly. Phryne was fascinated by murder, by mysteries really. She tricked her way into the crime scene, right past my constable. Constable Collins, you've met him, yes?" I nodded and he continued. "She worked her way right past him and into the bathroom the man had died in. When I accosted her she flirted with me, though I didn't notice at the time." I smirked. Of course he didn't. That was so entirely Johnny. "I gave her my card and she left. I thought I would never see her again but she involved herself so entirely in the case, solved it before I did, in fact, thought in my defense she got in my way with every step I took. Got herself in some trouble with the murdering friend though, I had to run in and break her out. She was almost dead when I got there but within a few days she found herself near another murder. Used my name and the card I'd given her to pretend I endorsed her helping the police solve murders. By the time I'd gotten there she'd convinced the victim's daughter and the girl who had not only stolen the victim's jewels but who wouldn't tell us a damn thing though she was present at the time of the murder making her a bit of a suspect – I'm sorry I've gotten off on a tangent." He was all but grinning now. "Anyway, she'd convinced them to come stay with her so that if I planned on questioning them I'd have to do it in her house. She also solved that one a bit before I did. By flirting with one of the murderer's best friends I might add, something I couldn't have done, but still. She was incredibly talented. She _is_ incredibly talented. Of course, that case was the tipping point. Not only did I realize that I was going to be stuck with this Lady Detective but that's when we met Jane."

"When you met her daughter?" I questioned, confused. What did he mean when _we_ met Jane? Wasn't Jane Phryne's daughter?

"Jane was the little girl who had stolen the jewels on the train."

"You're joking!"

"No. Miss Fisher took her in after that and while she couldn't outright adopt her, she's more of a mother than that girl's own flesh and blood. She's a brilliant girl. Picks up on languages like they're nothing. It probably helps that Phryne sometimes decides she's sick of English and speaks only French, or Italian, or Arabic, or one of the other languages she speaks." He grew quiet. "And she solved this case before I did. If I had just listened to her Phryne would already be home."

"Stop it Johnny. Now is not the time for guilt and blame. She will be home soon enough. No use trying to change the past. Let's simply get ready for the future." I grinned at him. "When am I to wish you happy?"

"She's not the marrying kind." I stiffened.

"I understand she's unconventional Johnny but listen to yourself! You're clearly in love with this woman to the extent that most people are never so lucky to experience! To say she isn't the kind of girl you marry just because she's a bit flirtatious or has been around the block a time or two."

"That isn't what I meant at all, Beth. I'd marry her tomorrow if she'd have me. I simply mean that she isn't the kind to tie herself down, that she doesn't believe in marriage." Quite the unconventional woman indeed.

"My brother Johnny, living in sin. I don't know whether to be shocked or proud!" I grinned.

"I'm not, we're not…" he trailed off and ran his hand through his hair. "We aren't together."

"What? I've never even met her but from what everyone around here says, how they treat you, how you talk about her, what else was I supposed to presume?"

"I love her Beth. But she's also my best friend and the mother to a girl I consider every bit my child. What if we messed this up? What if something happened and I couldn't see Jane anymore? What if I lost her? Too much ballast for lift off Beth."

"There's more. What aren't you saying?"

"She likes men. Lots and lots of men. I have met a large number of her 'old friends' so to speak."

"And that bothers you? You've been married, Jack."

"It's not that. It's just, she doesn't fall in love. She doesn't find one man that she wants to spend the rest of her life with. She loves them and then moves on. I don't think I could survive that Beth." He looked up at me with such pain in his eyes. "I love her. I love them both so much. And I can't be a part of their family only to be usurped. It would kill me."

"How do you know she doesn't love you back? How do you know you aren't the exception to her rule?"

"You should see these men, Beth. They're all fascinating, an adventure. French aristocrats, Russian dancers, Chinese mobsters, communist anarchists, painters, fighter pilots – oh, she flies planes by the way, did I mention? One of her lovers taught her to fly a plane – my point is that the list goes on each more interesting than the last. I don't hold a candle to a damn one of them."

"Then she's a fool." He snorted out a laugh. "I'm serious Johnny. If she doesn't see how incredible you are, than she's a fool." Just then a voice cut in from behind us, raspy and low. Johnny froze at the sound, his face paling and his hands gripping the counter before him tightly. All she said was a single word.

"Jack."

 **A/N: Read and Review! Hugs and kisses to all! Xoxo - E**


	17. Chapter 17

**Jack**

I heard my name. I heard _her_ voice say _my_ name. I was frozen. I couldn't turn around. I couldn't face her. What if it wasn't her? What if when I turned around there was anger, and blame in her eyes? What if she hated me? What if she was hurt? What if he had done something to her and when I turned around I could see it and the knowledge that _I_ did that to her, that it was _my_ fault destroyed me? I couldn't look. I couldn't move. I wished she would speak again so that I could listen to her voice, listen for pain, or anger, or fear, or anything really, anything that would tell me if she was okay. I knew there were other people in the station. Just moments ago I had been talking to Beth, but in this moment it was as though they had all just disappeared. They were gone. The station was gone. It was me, froze, gripping the edge of the counter before me and the echo of her voice in my ears. _You fool! You've been searching for weeks like a mad man to find her, to be sure of her safety and now when she's only a few strides away from you, you can't so much as turn around? Phryne. Home. Safe. Jane. Home. Safe. Never letting them go, ever again. Family. My family._

I didn't remember turning around, though later Hugh said that I had done it with a flourish, my coat billowing about like the cape of a matador. I don't remember crying out but my sister said that the noise of pure relief and joy had made her actually cry. I don't remember my parents, standing in the doorway having just arrived, hastened along by Beth's phone call. I don't remember running towards her but I must have because moments later found me with an armful of Phryne. Tears ran down both of our cheeks, unhindered by embarrassment. Who had time to be self-conscious at a time like this? Her face, slightly bruised I noticed with a wince, was buried in my neck and her arms were wrapped around me, tightly clinging on as I lifted her off her feet and held her close to me. That was an understatement. I was clinging to Phryne like a drowning man holding onto a life raft. I inhale, smelling her skin, begging this not to be a dream. There it was. Not the French Perfume she normally sported, but that inherent, truly Phryne scent that always lingered even more temptingly beneath the surface. I ran my fingers through her cropped black locks, now a bit mussed, almost frizzy, certainly not coiffed and put together and yet still so incredibly beautiful, still so intoxicatingly soft. I leaned my head back, away from her neck, ready to lean in and kiss the most beautiful creation God had ever seen fit to gift the world with when I remembered where I was. When I remembered what was happening. When I froze.

Phryne's eyes narrowed almost angrily. "Don't you dare, Jack Robinson." She said, her voice low and ferocious. Then in a moment that I will never forget so long as I am alive, Phryne Fisher gripped my face with both hands and pulled me to her. Her lips met mine and I could have sworn that a strike of lightening came down from above and hit me. Electricity surged through my body and my heart beat so hard and fast I was certain it was audible. I moved my lips in time with hers and it wasn't long before her tongue poked out surreptitiously and glided along my lips. I froze. We had to stop. We were in public. We could (and WOULD) pick this up later. Tonight. Maybe sooner if we could manage privacy. As I tried to come up with an explanation for my sudden cease of motion the perfect distraction occurred.

"Jack!" I had only enough time to gently peck Phryne on the check and give her a look that would explain all (it must have because she smiled back, winking seductively) before a ball of Jane landed in my arms. She was jabbering away as I picked her up, holding her on my hip with my left arm.

"Jack I'm so sorry, I should never have gone off on my own, I should have listened to you! I shouldn't have-"

"I should have listened to you. You were right and I should have listened to you Jane, this is all my fault."

"Don't be absurd." Phryne aid with a roll of her eyes as I pulled her into my right arm's embrace. "It isn't your fault, Jack. Not in the slightest!"

"Even Henry said, the way Jimmy played with you psychologically, it was astounding you managed to solve what you did." Jane added cheerfully.

"Who is Henry?"

""Jimmy was threatening his daughter's life so he had to help him. But even so, he still risked a lot to be sure that we were well fed and kept Pots away from us." Phryne added.

"Pots?" Phryne grimaced.

"Bastard. He was helping Jimmy for the pure joy of being a…" Phryne trailed off and glanced around her before looking up at me delicately. "Well, a word I can't say in front of Hugh." I laughed.

"He's also a complete idiot." Johnson added, leading a handcuffed man (who did look remarkably like a pot!) past us, not bothering to be gentle. "Confessed to the whole damn thing in the car. Even went and threw in a few confessions we weren't looking for. We've just got to get him to sign off on it and these bastards aren't going anywhere." Phryne shook her head in wonder.

"What say you, Jack Robinson?" She asked, turning her head towards me. "Back to Wardlow for a mid-day nightcap?" She glanced around. "With everyone, of course!" A cheer from the men went up as she continued planning. "We'll have to call Bert and Cec and Mac of course and I suppose I should notify my Aunt P that I'm not dead or something though I really don't want to."

"Oh no." I froze.

"What?" She asked. "Have you gone and told my Aunt P that I died?"

"Mac." I said simply.

"What do you mean?"

"I forgot to tell Mac that we may have found you. I alerted Cec and Burt and Hugh went to Wardlow to tell Dottie and Mr. B but I completely forgot-"

"Jack Robinson you are a dead man!" The deep voice behind me left no room for guessing on who had just appeared at the top of the steps. Mac.

"She may kill you. I'll do my best to stop her but in case I fail, do you have any particular flower you want at your funeral?" Phryne asked in a stage whisper.

"I'm downstairs in my morgue, near to tears at the thought of my best friend gone missing when I hear a roar of cheering above me. I decide to come up to tell them to have some respect for those what have lost their friends and what do I see? _My_ best friend and my star pupil in your arms as you go on about how you knew we would get them back and how you _forgot to tell me!_ " I winced. "If I weren't so God damned happy right now I would actually murder you!" Phryne slipped out from under my arm and rushed to hug her friend. They chatted quietly and Mac instantly began to look more closely at the bruises and abbrasions on Phryne's skin.

Chatter all over the station started up again as the men who could got ready to depart for Phryne's house. My parents and Beth looked on thoughtfully, but all smiled at me when our eyes met. Jane clung to my neck and Phryne looked back to smile at me, just me. All was well.

* * *

 **Please please please review! xoxo - E**


	18. Chapter 18

**Jack**

221B The Esplanade, St Kilda was filled. Filled with noise and color and people and for the first time in a month, was filled with joy. For the first time in a month, _I_ was filled with joy. I sat, tie loosened on the couch in Phryne's living room Jane curled up and fast asleep under my left arm, Phryne curled up and far from slumber under my right. Dr. MacMillan was dancing inexplicably with Cec who seemed flushed by the lady's attentions. (Had he forgotten where her preference in romantic partners lay?) Mr. Butler was grinning from ear to ear as he passed around champagne and hors d'oeuvres. Dot was alternating between grinning so hard I thought her mouth would fall from her face and bursting into tears at which point Hugh would comfort her happily, knowing that for the first time in a month he was able to say with complete confidence and honesty that Miss Fisher was just fine and home safe and sound. Then there was a whole host of Miss Fisher's friends, ladies from her Adventuress's Club, her cousin Guy and his wife Isabella – who seemed to be trying to seduce Burt much to the red ragger's displeasure – half the members of several gangs on the streets that Phryne watched out for and took care of when needed be had shown up (without invitation I might add) but at the very least were on their best behavior and speaking cordially to one another as though a few days ago hadn't found them brawling on the street like drunks. Mrs. Stanley was telling everyone who would listen about how brave and wonderful her niece was and how she always knew Phryne would be just fine. A handful of circus folk (led by the giant of a man I had met on the last occasion we had interacted with that particular crowd) had shown up and brought quite a few beverages with varying degrees of legality however tonight, I couldn't bother being the police officer. Tonight I was curled up with my girls and those around us could do as they liked if they didn't mess with that peace.

Then there was my family. My parents, my sister and brother, their spouses and children had all been invited and had shown up nearly 20 minutes ago. I hadn't yet gone over to say hello. Telling them about my wonderful family was one thing but having them see the type of lifestyle Phryne led was quite another. Would they be ashamed? Shocked? Would they disapprove? It shouldn't have mattered to me. I had the woman I loved laying in my arms, finally knowing that she loved me too, and I had Jane, my Jane here beside me. I was happier than I'd ever been. This was the life I had chosen for myself. But would they approve? Would they support us? Would they love Phryne the way she was meant to be loved? Phryne didn't grow up with a family as loving and supportive as I had. She had adopted all these people around her because family meant so much to her, how would she take it if _my_ family rejected her? Sure she'd be strong and pretend it didn't bother her. But it would bother her. It would hurt her. And I wasn't about to let anyone or anything hurt her ever again.

All thoughts left my mind in that moment as Phryne's lips tingled against the skin of my neck. "I've missed you so much, Jack." She whispered. "I'm so glad I'm home." I turned my face towards her, not caring about the impropriety of our intimate positioning.

"It's been so empty without you. Cold. Like a tomb." I closed my eyes remembering. "You bring this place, every place you are in, to life Phryne. Without you it's just walls. Just a floor and a ceiling. Just things. But with you it's a home."

"I wasn't talking about the house Jack." Shew said, tipping her face down, burying it in my chest. "Don't you know, yet? You're my home, Jack." I tipped my lips down and kissed the crown of her hair gently and was quiet for a moment as I thought about all the implications of that sentence.

"Like I said." I finally answered. "Cold, lonely. Like a tomb without you. You bring life where you go. Without you I am a shell, broken and empty. With you…" I trailed off, unable to find words strong enough to explain what she meant to me.

"I know Jack." She responded, knowing what I meant anyway. "Me too."

* * *

 **Beth**

Had he ever look so happy? So utterly at home? I wanted to cry for joy. It was so clear that Johnny had found the same love and happiness than I had prayed for him to find. This rag tag family he had created for himself was perhaps not what I had been picturing and it certainly wasn't what I immediately came up with when I thought about Johnny but seeing him in this scene he seemed so utterly at home I knew I would have to reevaluate my brother. Perhaps he was more like Ella* than I thought! Jane was curled up under his arm, sleeping, exhausted but luckily no worse for wear from her ordeal. Johnny hadn't been explicit in explaining her entire situation but he made it clear this wasn't the worse she had suffered and this experience would be no more scaring than many others from her childhood. She was a fighter he had said proudly. That, of course, put me on edge. What child went through something like this and was able to put it behind them because she had seen _worse_?

Then there was _her._ The woman who had answered my prayers for Johnny, albeit a little later than I had initially imagined. I had prayed for someone like her to come around the moment I had heard he was courting that insufferable Rosie Sanderson. She was beautiful. There was no doubt about it. Even after having been kidnapped for a month, even with the bruises and cuts, you could tell that Phryne Fisher was a beautiful woman. Judging by this house she was also an incredibly wealthy woman. (I mean she was an Honourable for goodness sake!) Her staff were clearly in love with her. Jane adored her, worshiped her almost. And Johnny, the way Johnny looked at her gave me chills. He looked at her as though she was the sun and the moon, as though she was what made his world spin and stand still all at once. He loved her. Wholly. Truly. Johnny was in love with her. He was happy.

Hon. Miss Fisher moved to stand up and my brother held on to her hand with a small frown, trying to pull her back to him. (A public display of affection so brazen?! He would barely kiss Rosie on the cheek in public _when they were married_ and here he was pulling on her apron strings (figuratively speaking of course, I doubted Miss Fisher was the sort of woman to wear an apron in any situation,) and pouting to try and get the girl to come back and curl up on the couch with him. She flashed her eyes at him and smiled, tilting her head to her right. Johnny pursed his lips and raised an eyebrow. Then both of hers were raised as she nodded slowly. That was when it struck me. They weren't just making faces at each other. They were having a silent conversation with one another. They knew each other so well that after a month of separation they could still tell what the other was thinking based solely on their facial expression. And we hadn't heard about this girl before, _why_ , Johnny? Johnny allowed himself to be pulled to his feet, laying Jane down gently on the couch and motioning to a girl who had tearfully introduced herself as Dot who hurried over and took his place at the young girl's side, softly stroking her hair with a soft smile firmly in place.

Johnny wrapped his fingers through Hon. Miss Fisher's and kissed her jawbone. I had to bite back a grin. Who was he and what had he done with stuffy Det. Inspector Jack Robinson? (Or very likely more accurate, what had _she_ done with stuffy Det. Inspector Jack Robinson?) They walked over to us, and for the first time, Miss Fisher looked vaguely nervous. Johnny kissed mum's cheek and thanked us all for coming (as though he was the host and this was his house! I noticed excitedly…)

"Mum, Dad, I want you to meet the Honourable Miss Phryne Fisher." He said looking at her softly. She looked at them and bit her lip nervously. If I had to guess, I would say that this is the sort of woman who has never been nervous before in her life.

"Simply lovely to finally meet the Lady Detective Johnny keeps mentioning." Mum said, pulling her into a hug. "I very much wish it were under better circumstances. Miss Fisher we are all so grateful that you and dear Jane are home safe and sound."

"I insist you call me Phryne, Mrs. Robinson." She replied as they pulled away from the embrace. "And as much as I wished to meet Jack's family looking my best I've come to accept that my life will never have a 'perfect moment'."

"Perhaps it would if you spent less time chasing murderers." Johnny suggested with an air of humor filling his tone.

"I could say the same of you Detective Inspector." She teased back with a grin. Phryne looked back at me.

"Of course you are one of Jack's sisters. The family resemblance is striking!" I smiled. "Elizabeth?" she asked.

"You may as well call me Beth, everyone does." Phryne laughed at this and looked to Jack who was rolling his eyes. Evidently I had just participated in a joke I wasn't privy to. I introduced her to my family, each of whom she greeted with a warm smile and a hug and some manner of small talk. And the entire time, Johnny never took his eyes off of her.

An hour later found me chatting with Phryne over a few drinks. The more I got to know her the more I realized how perfect she was for Johnny. She would make him step out of his comfort zone. She would make him reevaluate his morals and think hard about why he valued some trait over another. She would question him at every step and never let him take control just because she was a woman. She would force him to see her as his equal because with a woman like her, there wasn't another option. She would push him to be his best and work his hardest but still take a break from work and enjoy life. She already had dragged him out of the hole he had been living in after the war. She'd already given him his fight back. And I couldn't wait to see what more she would do for him.

Just then the tinkering of a piano made its way over the noise of conversation. That's funny. It almost sounded like…I gasped. It was. Johnny was playing again. Tears filled my eyes as I watched his fingers drift over the keys. My mother made her way to my side and gripped my hand as we watched.

"What is it?" Phryne asked. "Have you not heard Jack play before?" I turned to look at her, my brow furrowed.

"You have?"

"Yes. He plays often when he's over for a nightcap after we wrap a case. He's quite good."

"Yes." My mother said tearfully. "Yes he is."

"What is it?" She asked again.

"He used to play constantly. He even performed in a few concert halls. But after he married, the Sanderson girl encouraged him to focus on his career instead of his silly pursuits. He didn't see a problem with giving it up. He didn't see how happy he was playing. And so he played less and less. But then the war came and…" She trailed off.

"Johnny hasn't played in a long time." I said simply, summing up the long painful story that had consumed our family as we watched Johnny sink into despair and depression.

"Miss Fish- Phryne," My mum asked gently. "When did he start playing again?" Phryne pursed her lips, pensively.

"I suppose 8 or 9 months ago now." My mother inhaled sharply but it was not a sad sound. "We had just wrapped a murder case wherein he had been undercover as a radio announcer. Mr. Butler had alerted me that he had let Jack in and that he was waiting in the parlor and when I came in he was sat down at my piano playing one of my very favorite songs."

"Your Butler just lets him in? No need to consult with the lady of the house?" I questioned with a smile, teasingly.

"I swear that man is here more than he is at his own house." She said, pretending to be annoyed though anyone viewing the smile on her lips knew otherwise. "I don't know if he's mentioned it but we liked to wrap a case with a nightcap here. Hugh – Constable Collins rather – was usually here visiting his sweetheart, my companion Dot, and No matter how good your son claims to be at cooking no one can rival Mr. B when it comes to culinary skills."

"You fine ladies wouldn't happen to be talking about me, now would you?" Johnny asked, plunking himself down on the lounge beside Phryne, instantly taking her fingers in his.

"But of course!" Phryne said with a flourish and grandeur that made my brother smile.

"Phryne was telling us that you spend a lot of time here." My mother said slyly. "Due to the spectacular food." She took a bite of the hors d'oeuvres. "I must say, I do quite understand that sentiment."

"Yes." Johnny said smiling at Phryne. "The food is exquisite. As is her excellent supply of beverage." He took a sip of the whiskey in his hand. Phryne looked at him searchingly.

"I cannot fault Mr. B on a thing. But I have heard that the wine stores at certain Italian restaurants in the area exceed my own." I frowned. Well they were restaurants. What on earth did she expect? But then Johnny looked into her eyes and kissed her wrist sweetly.

"I don't know about those people. But I much prefer whiskey." The returned smile on Phryne's face told me there was something greater at play, something I didn't understand. But it didn't matter.

My brother's broken heart had been mended, his dying soul lifted from the grave.

"Jack?" Jane had woken and was now back at Johnny's side, snuggling in. He kissed her brown and pulled Phryne tight to his side.

"Welcome home."

* * *

The End.

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*I don't remember if I explained Ella before and I don't currently have access to the beginning of my story to check (curse you spotty internet!) but brief description: The youngest Robinson sibling, Ella is an awful lot like Phryne – a modern woman. She is currently touring around America with a boyfriend (whom she certainly does NOT plan on marrying!) and though we do not meet her in this fic, she will likely pop up in other fics I write for MFMM as she is a theorized character in my head and part of a headcannon I am obsessed with. Sorry to purists: I haven't read the books yet. I am sure there is better description of Jack's family in them but I am writing this based on the show and what I know/imagine from that.

* * *

 **A/N: Thinking of doing a sort of "inappropriate" (read smutty) epilogue? Or Just making a separate fic filled with PWP that while not breaking from this plot idea is stand alone as well. What do you guys think?**

 **Thank you thank you thank you all so much for sticking with me through this mess. This was not at all what I was planning and there were some definite times where I had no idea where I was going and was just winging it so really...THANK YOU. You guys are the best! Be sure to comment your thoughts and check out my other MFMM fic "An Innocent Enough Roll of Film".**

 **XOXO - E**


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